Asia Pacific

Renewable energy company Vena Energy stumped Asian investors with its debut bond sale on Wednesday, relying instead on heavy support from Europe.

India’s equity capital markets have had a strong start to the year, pumping out a steady flow of large IPOs and secondary share offerings on the back of a big uptick in foreign investment. The country’s ECM pipeline is offering banks relief amid a slowdown in Hong Kong. Jonathan Breen reports.

Local government bond issuance in China had a record start in 2020, until the Covid-19 outbreak put a dent in the pace of deals. While new transactions announced by a number of provinces this week have signalled a revival, bond issuance alone may not be enough to fill a gap in governments’ funding needs. Addison Gong reports.

International bond volumes from India so far this year have almost doubled from the same period in 2019, showing the strength of the country’s issuers as they continue to emerge from a turbulent period. Debt bankers are optimistic that India is set for a strong 2020, writes Morgan Davis.

Alain Gallois will become Natixis’s global head of investment banking, replacing Mohamed Kallala. The latter is heading over to run global markets, with that role’s incumbent, Luc François, leaving the bank.

Chinese corporations bombarded investors with new bond options on Wednesday, allowing three issuers to raise $625m between then. Hong Kong-based asset manager ESR Cayman joined the fray in Singapore, grabbing S$225m ($161.55m).

Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank is set to become the first rural commercial bank in China to set up a wealth management subsidiary, joining 16 larger banks that have already entered the industry.

Sydney Airport has become the first borrower to issue a sustainability-linked US private placement.

The Chinese regulator’s decision to loosen rules around follow-on offerings in the domestic market has brought a resounding vote of approval from corporations. In just four days, 46 companies have set out plans to tap the equity capital market.

One of Peking University Founder Group Co’s creditors has applied to a Chinese court for a restructuring of the company, which defaulted on a Rmb2bn ($285m) domestic bond at the end of last year.

China’s Powerlong Real Estate Holdings is returning to the international loan market to refinance some of its debt, mandating one bank to lead the deal.

Citic, Yango Group Co and Kunming Industrial Development and Investment Co were the three Chinese issuers that tapped bond investors for new dollar deals on Tuesday.