Asia Pacific

Chow Tai Fook has made a quick comeback to the offshore loan market, eyeing a smaller deal after closing a $1.3bn fundraising last March.

China Tian Lun Gas has closed an oversubscribed loan worth HK$2bn ($255m) after attracting 13 lenders in general syndication.

The Indian government is offloading 50.76m shares in Axis Bank through an offer-for-sale, trimming its stake in the private sector lender as the end of the financial year looms.

ING Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia sold 10 year strong covered bond deals on Monday, creating a "virtuous circle" that should encourage more issuers to enter the market, according to one lead manager. But another cautioned that demand for long dated bonds was "frothy".

In this round-up, China and the US will talk in Beijing at the end of the week, China’s interbank payment and settlement system survived the Lunar New Year red packet frenzy and a draft of the foreign investment law will be submitted in early March.

Sino Biopharmaceutical has turned to banks for a $700m refinancing loan. It is offering the same price as it paid for the original deal, a club loan sealed in 2016.

Chinese property issuers led the reopening of Asia’s offshore bond market following a week-long holiday in the Mainland to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Investors responded to the new deals with enthusiasm.

Pinduoduo, a Nasdaq-listed Chinese e-commerce company, has raised $1.38bn from a follow-on offering.

Citi has named Keith Tuffley as managing director and vice chairman for Australia and New Zealand and a senior international advisor for its newly-formed banking, capital markets and advisory (BCMA) unit.

India’s Bharat Oman Refineries, a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum Corp and Oman Oil Co, has returned to the offshore loan market with a $125m deal that breaks a four-year absence.

The harmful climatic effects of biofuels, which policymakers have long promoted as a solution to climate change, are increasingly being pointed out, although the financial industry remains largely unaware of them. A report by ShareAction has highlighted the risks investors and banks are running by financing the burning of wood as a fuel.

Asia’s debt markets, which were shut for the Chinese New Year holiday this week, are back to a wait and see mode following delays in trade talks between the US and the Mainland.