Asia Pacific

Investors gobbled up Adani Green Energy’s rare Indian project-linked bond on Thursday, seizing the opportunity to buy non-Chinese paper. The company’s transaction was also helped along by its new investment grade rating.

Chinese biotechnology firm Innovent Biologics has raised HK$2.39bn ($304.3m) after selling a chunk of stock through a top-up placement.

Standard Chartered has hired Linda Gu as an associate director in its loan syndication team, according to a source close to the situation.

Chailease International Finance Corp has closed its third offshore loan of the year, finding demand from 17 lenders for a $300m facility.

Crisis-hit countries that go through a painful debt restructuring programme as part of a bailout enjoy much steeper cuts in their medium-term debt, according to an independent analysis of International Monetary Fund rescue programmes.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel returned for its annual visit to the yen market this week to sell its largest ever Samurai.

Kaspi.kz, the largest payments and e-commerce company in Kazakhstan, announced on Monday that it would proceed with an IPO on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after filing a registration document last week.

Holding Group Almex, the investment vehicle owned by Dinara Kulibaeva and her husband Timur Kulibayev, closed books on a 10% stake in Halyk Bank on Thursday, sold via a marketed sale of global depositary receipts in London and Astana.

As IPO investors are considering the advantages of Kaspi, the Kazakh fintech and e-commerce firm seeking to list in London, its CEO, Mikheil Lomtadze, talked to GlobalCapital about the share sale and the advantages of being the Alibaba of central Asia.

Three Chinese companies joined the queue to list in the US within the past week. Youdao, an online education platform founded by Chinese technology company NetEase, is planning the largest of the IPOs, seeking up to $300m.

An evening at Captain’s Bar always provides me with an endless source of gossip, anecdotes and entertainment. This week proved as reliable as ever, when I took up my perch with my usual glass of whisky.

The number of syndicated loans in Asia has reached a new low this year, as the market takes a hit from volatility and regulatory headaches around funding M&A transactions. There is no respite in sight, however, with bankers predicting a tough end to 2019. Pan Yue reports.