Asia Pacific

Credit Suisse has appointed Le Hoai Nam to lead its Vietnam investment banking and capital markets coverage, according to a source familiar with the matter.

New Frontier Corp, a Hong Kong-based special purpose acquisition company (Spac), is planning to raise $300m-equivalent to support its $1.44bn purchase of China’s United Family Healthcare.

The Philippines’ Aboitiz Power Corp has found support from a group of 22 banks for a $300m loan that will finance its acquisition of AC Energy’s thermal power company.

JP Morgan has bagged $400m from a rare cash-settled exchangeable bond, with Tencent Holdings as the reference stock, according to a source close to the deal.

China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) navigated a weak market following this week’s rate cut announcement to raise $2bn from a three-tranche deal. While it took a smaller amount than usual, its transaction was well-timed, say bankers.

In this round-up, China’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) beats expectation, aggregate financing in the Mainland reaches Rmb13tr ($1.9tr) and Nomura’s China joint venture nears kick-off.

In this round-up, US president Donald Trump unexpectedly announced an increase in tariffs on China, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) bumped up the re-lending quota for smaller banks and Mainland regulators said they are not planning to use the property market as a short-term stimulus.

BNP Paribas hires UK advisory head — Créd Ag’s credit unit chief moves to markets role — AIIB hires ICBC loan syndicator.

Lloyds Banking Group has returned to the Aussie dollar market for the first time since May 2018, offering investors the chance to invest in two tranches of senior debt at the operating company level. The issuer follows a wave of European and UK financial institutions making their way down under.

Investors pulled away from risky bonds in Asia on Thursday in the immediate aftermath of the US Federal Open Market Committee’s rate cut announcement.

It is common during awards pitches for journalists to be outnumbered. But some banks take it to extremes.

Daz Zhang is leaving Commerzbank to lead the Greater China debt capital markets team at another bank, according to a source close to the matter.