Asia Pacific

Three Chinese education companies have ventured out for new loans, adding a dash of diversity to the syndication market. But they come at a time when lenders are increasingly conservative about the sector, owing to stricter regulations and amid concerns around borrowers’ financial performance, writes Pan Yue.

WuXi AppTec is set to raise about HK$7.9bn ($1.1bn) from pricing its Hong Kong listing at the mid-point of the indicative price range, according to a source close to the deal.

Loans syndicate bankers in Asia are keeping busy until the end of the year with new deal launches from across the region.

The US and Hong Kong IPO markets saw a raft of companies trying to catch the last window for their listings before the year end, as the short-lived rally from the US-China trade war ceasefire did little to reassure ECM bankers and investors, writes Christie Ou.

Citi has named Jan Metzger as head of Asia Pacific banking, capital markets and advisory (BCMA), a newly created division in the region, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia on Thursday.

Huawei Investment & Holding Co's dollar bonds took a beating on Thursday morning following news of the arrest of its chief financial officer in Canada.

Dongying Fangyuan Nonferrous Metals and Dongying Lufang Metals Material have approached retail lenders for a joint borrowing of $200m.

Chinese local government financing vehicle Huzhou Communications bagged Rmb500m ($73.1m) this week in its first offshore renminbi offering.

State Bank of India’s $500m loan is now in limited syndication after the senior lenders were mandated in October.

Policy lender China Development Bank printed a dual-currency, three-tranche transaction on Tuesday, raising $2.4bn-equivalent. While it paid just a couple of basis points of new issue premium for the dollar bonds amid a short-lived market rally, demand for the euro portion exceeded expectations.

Patrick Kwan, the former co-head of Barclays’ investment banking unit in Asia, has returned to the banking industry with Credit Suisse.

The political upheaval in Sri Lanka since October led S&P and Fitch to downgrade the sovereign’s ratings this week, following a similar move by Moody’s in November. All three agencies have pointed to heightened refinancing risks, with a weak rupee and rising bond yields restraining the country’s access to capital markets.