Asia Pacific

Chinese delivery services company SF Express is seeking a HK$5bn ($640m) syndicated loan to refinance a bridge facility used to support its acquisition of Deutsche Post DHL’s supply chain business in the Mainland.

The sellers of Oltin, a closed-ended fund seeking to invest in Uzbekistan, have decided to postpone a public listing and proceed with private fundraising after investors expressed a preference for an unlisted fund structure.

The first 25 companies that started trading on the new Shanghai tech board on Monday skyrocketed, as Chinese investors welcomed the Nasdaq-style equity market with frenzied trading. As the excitement cooled on Tuesday, the bourse’s performance shows that regulators must not just focus on market reform, but also on market participants.

Greenko Energy Holdings found ample support for its $950m dual-tranche bond, thanks in part to the duration it offered investors, as well as the positive sentiment surrounding India.

Chinese local government-owned Dalian Deta Holdings Co has debuted in the international bond market for $300m, while repeat issuer KWG Group priced a tight transaction on Monday.

As core markets in the northern hemisphere begin to cool, SSA issuers are looking towards a Kiwi and Aussie periphery unaffected by the summer close.

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp has launched a $500m loan into general syndication to pay back a bond maturing this year.

Singaporean commodities company Trafigura has returned to the loan market for its annual borrowing, seeking a $1bn-equivalent to test the market’s appetite for the deal.

Chinese real estate developer Zhenro Properties Group has raised HK$1.21bn ($154.8m) from a top-up share placement.

Geely Automobile Holdings has made a rapid return to China’s auto loan ABS market with a Rmb4bn ($581.5m) deal that was a hit with the onshore arms of international banks. While the class A1 tranche was priced tightly, the issuer had to pay up for the mezzanine portion.

Concerns around some Indonesian and Chinese credits, including Delta Merlin Dunia Textile and China Minsheng Investment Group, have put a dent in investor sentiment in Asia with bonds underperforming in the secondary market.

China Citic International Bank’s Crystal So has joined Shanghai Pudong Development Bank to lead its loan syndication team, according to a source close to the move.