Asia Pacific

Thailand’s S Hotels and Resorts is set to launch bookbuilding for its IPO next week and is looking to raise up to Bt7.9bn ($260m) from the deal.

Foreign banks are eager to gain full control of their Chinese securities joint ventures, after the regulator said it was abolishing a cap on foreign ownership. But fierce competition and difficult onshore regulations mean it is a long, rocky road ahead. Rebecca Feng reports.

When life gives you lemons, stay cool and ask life what else it has got.

Chinese real estate company Kaisa Group Holdings chose to go down the 144A route for its latest bond, raising $400m from a deal that hit the higher end of its size expectations. But bankers say it is unlikely many issuers will follow suit. Addison Gong reports.

Chinese central government-owned China National Travel Service Group Corp (CNTS) made a quick return to the dollar bond market this week, extending its maturity profile with a $600m dual-tranche transaction.

India's Vedanta, Syndicate Bank make loan comeback — Shanghai Sinnoil defaults on $400m loan — Fullerton allocates $250m among 17 banks — Lesso closes $1.1bn refi — Indorent holds non-deal roadshows

How much work have Asian banks put in to get ready for the end of Libor on December 31, 2021? Senior bankers in the region tend to respond to this question with shrugs, caveats and equivocations. It is clear, they admit privately, that not much progress has been made.

Citi has made Peter Babej, head of its financial institutions group, its new chief executive officer in Asia Pacific, looking outside the region for a replacement of former boss Francisco Aristeguieta.

Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) raised $600m on Wednesday from a combination of fixed and floating rate notes.

Sri Lanka’s deputy central bank governor, P Nandalal Weerasinghe, tells GlobalMarkets that claims it had fallen into a Chinese debt trap are “rubbish”, pointing out that loans from the Asian giant were lower than those from some multilateral development banks

Ma Jun, a green activist who also sits on the monetary policy committee of the Chinese central bank, tells GlobalMarkets that multilateral development banks need to focus on risk mitigation, reduce the risk of default on demonstration projects and help local banks deliver more lending if they want to deliver on financing green infrastructure

Heavy debt burdens are forcing African countries to either renegotiate loan terms with China, or ask for debt forgiveness, with some blaming China’s lack of attention to debt sustainability.