Asia Pacific

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is considering making covered bonds eligible for repo, but Singapore dollar issuance would probably be needed, delegates at the Euromoney/ECBC Asian Covered Bond Forum heard this week. Domestic currency issuance would improve the resilience of Singapore’s banking system and potentially encourage other banks to set up programmes.

India’s equity capital market is on edge as Embassy Office Parks Real Estate Investment Trust prepares the country’s first Reit IPO. But while the hotly-anticipated listing has global institutional investors chomping at the bit, the deal may be a one-off treat as the issuer has very few peers.

Hong Kong’s securities regulator has fined Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Standard Chartered and UBS after investigations into the banks’ sponsorship of a series of IPOs. The Swiss bank has also had its sponsor licence revoked for a year. Jonathan Breen reports.

United Overseas Bank (UOB) became the first Singaporean issuer to sell a Panda bond this week, raising Rmb2bn ($298m) from a three year deal. Rebecca Feng reports.

Investors have challenged REC’s proposed waiver to a change of control clause, forcing the borrower to pay up more to get the consent it needed.

The Bank of Georgia has mandated banks for an additional tier one deal — its debut in the format.

China’s state-owned ‘bad debt’ managers are making a comeback in the offshore market, after a rally in the sector. China Orient Asset Management Co this week became the second in a month to price bonds and there are more deals on the way. Addison Gong reports.

It has been a good week for Latin American issuers in Swissies, with two banks from the region taking Sfr400m ($398m) out of the market on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing total issuance from the region for the year up to Sfr875m.

Back in my working days, I used to regularly be peeved by journalists calling me looking for juicy bits of news. Oh, the excuses I used to come up with to get off the phone with them!

China’s industrial gas supplier Yingde Gases Group has launched a $300m borrowing into general syndication.

Several CLO issuers in the US and Europe have come to depend on Japanese investors to anchor triple-A tranches, but observers say Japan’s banks may no longer be able to soak up foreign paper if a bubbling banking crisis forces banks to clean up their act at home.

United Overseas Bank has made its first appearance in the Panda bond market, selling a Rmb2bn ($297.8m) three year deal.