Asia Pacific

Huifu Payment launched a HK$1.9bn ($244.1m) IPO in Hong Kong on Thursday, using Silicon Valley stalwarts Square and PayPal as benchmarks for valuations.

Equity investors swooped on a W1.32tr ($1.22bn) sell-down in Samsung Electronics on Wednesday. They took advantage of a share price slide just ahead of the launch of what was South Korea's largest accelerated bookbuild since 2011. Jonathan Breen reports.

The Panda bond pipeline is bursting at the seams with red chip Chinese names and SSAs preparing for renminbi deals, prompting some in the market to predict a new era of growth for the asset class.

GDS Holdings added some much-needed diversity to Asia’s equity-linked market with its first print in the format on Thursday, which proved a hit with investors.

Ping An Real Estate Co closed a $250m short-dated bond on Wednesday amid continued market volatility.

Chinese alternative investment firm Citic Capital Holdings has approached the loan market for a new HK$2.5bn ($318m) borrowing.

Hyundai Capital returned to the Swiss franc bond market after roughly four years away on Wednesday. The South Korean car company was a regular feature in Switzerland up until 2014, but as conditions grew worse for international borrowers each bond expired and was not refinanced like for like. But this is beginning to change as the Swiss market proves more resilient to European political volatility than core markets.

Chinese footwear brand Belle International is returning to the offshore loan market to amend and extend a borrowing signed last year, as well as to raise funds for dividend recapitalisation.

The Republic of the Philippines is looking at two benchmark sized transactions in the second half of the year, to be denominated in dollars and yen, a source at the Bureau of the Treasury told GlobalCapital Asia this week.

General Motors’ Shanghai-based joint venture is gearing up for its biggest securitization transaction in China. The Rmb10.4bn ($1.62bn) notes will be up for grabs not only for onshore investors, but also those tapping the market via Bond Connect.

A pair of Samsung Group insurers are looking to offload W1.33tr ($1.2bn) of shares in sister firm Samsung Electronics, poised to be South Korea’s largest overnight bookbuild since 2011.

Jitters around Italy’s political turmoil made its way to Asia’s bond and stock markets on Wednesday, forcing debt capital markets bankers in the region to hit the pause button on deals.