Asia Pacific

Citi has made two senior changes to its Asia Pacific financial institutions group (FIG), according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia on Friday.

Hong Kong was a hotbed of accelerated bookbuild activity this week as two biotechnology firms and a property developer raised a combined HK$6.7bn ($854m) in primary and secondary equity.

TMB Bank, with support from the International Finance Corp (IFC), sold the first green bond from a Thai commercial bank on Tuesday, raising $60m.

Puxin and VCredit Holdings, both of which launched IPOs earlier this week, were covered on their first day of bookbuilding.

China’s market watchdog said companies can submit applications to list China Depositary Receipts from Thursday, declaring the start of trials for the scheme.

Xiaomi Corp had its listing hearing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday, paving the way for investor education to begin on Monday if the IPO is approved.

UBS appoints Asia DCM syndicate heads – BNP’s SEA loan syndicate head to relocate – Morgan Stanley’s ECM co-head dies at 41 – Goldman DCM banker moves to Macquarie – CMS’s Chien moves to buy-side – Citi builds Oz team – Wong leaves HSBC

General Motors’ joint venture sealed a Rmb10.4bn ($1.62bn) deal in the Chinese securitization market on June 6, marking its biggest outing so far. Bankers on the deal said the auto company wanted to bag the cash before onshore rates come under pressure in the second half of the year.

Last week, I had the pleasure of taking a short trip back to the UK for a banker friend’s wedding. The weather was as perfect as a London spring day can be, and I was happy to get away from the usual work grumblings of bankers at the pub.

Temasek Holdings returned to the securitization market this week after a two year hiatus to woo investors into private equity funds-backed Astrea IV. Institutional investors are already in the bag. The focus now is on winning over retail accounts — the first time such a deal has been open to the city-state’s public, writes Addison Gong.

Hua Medicine has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong under sponsors CLSA and Goldman Sachs, as the promised pipeline of biotechnology issuers begins to materialise following the city’s new listing rules.

The age-old debate of loans versus bonds has picked up pace amid turbulence in the debt capital markets, as banks and borrowers in Asia try finding the most suitable funding options, writes Pan Yue.