Asia Pacific

SBI Cards and Payments Services has priced its Rp103.4bn ($1.4bn) IPO at the top of the range and was allocating the stock to investors on Wednesday.

SAIC-GMAC Automotive Finance and Genius Auto Finance printed auto loan ABS deals on Monday and Tuesday. Both were sealed near the tight end of their price guidance ranges.

Two new dollar transactions were launched in the Asian bond market on Wednesday, signalling a slow revival in confidence after a rough start to the week.

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co has become the latest Hong Kong-listed mainland company planning to convert its domestic shares into H-shares, after China fully opened up the H-share full circulation scheme last November.

Chinese biopharmaceutical firm InnoCare Pharma kicked off bookbuilding for its Hong Kong IPO on Wednesday, securing over half of the deal with cornerstone investors.

A window for Kangaroo issuance opened this week, as a positive move in the Australian dollar/euro basis swap helped rouse a slumbering market that had not seen a deal for a fortnight. In spite of unstable conditions, SSAs entered the market on Monday and Tuesday, with a trio of regular borrowers tapping six lines for a combined A$575m ($364m).

Can the capital markets function properly with its workforce operating remotely, whether from home or at disaster recovery centres? This question is becoming increasingly important as the Covid-19 infection rate rockets and the death toll grows. One organisation that has more experience of coping than most is the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, based in Beijing.

CIMB Group Holdings and CIMB Bank chief executive Zafrul Aziz has been named Malaysia's new finance minister, amid tumultuous political change in the country.

The debt crisis at Citic Guoan Group deepened after the company announced its eighth domestic bond default this week. Fellow Chinese issuer, Macrolink Holding Co, was also unable to pay back a Rmb1bn ($144m) bond as the Covid-19 outbreak took a toll on its businesses.

Indonesia's OCBC NISP raised Rph2.75tr ($191m) from International Finance Corp through privately-placed sustainable bond transactions, split between a gender bond and a green bond.

Citi has hired industry veteran Loretta Ko as head of Hong Kong financial institutions, within the corporate banking division, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Asia’s IPO markets have been hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic, as travel bans and self-quarantine orders have delayed roadshows and brought deal flow to a near standstill. For the listing markets to survive, issuers, ECM bankers and investors need to adapt rapidly — and put some faith in technology.