Asia Pacific

Emerging market bond investors have welcomed JP Morgan’s launch this week of a new suite of indices that integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. The indices could help investors launch new funds.

One of the drawbacks of the strong growth in interest in responsible investing is that many investors only want to take conventional kinds of risk — such as buying large, liquid equities or investment grade bonds. But a report out this week suggests even small, obscure impact investments have a safe risk profile — perhaps even better than mainstream investments.

A trio of Australian issuers had a mixed response to their corporate bond issuance this week. Sydney Airport was priced with no new issue premium, but compatriot Stockland found itself paying a 20bp premium two days later.

Swiss franc bond market players are conflicted about the substantial slide in the Swiss franc, which has lost about 3.5% of its value against both the euro and dollar in the past two months.

Australian property company Stockland was the first Australian issuer to sell a green bond in Europe in 2014. The company finally returned to the euro market on Thursday, but chose not to go with a green bond, on the same day as compatriot Ausgrid chose to price its new deal.

Boutique investment bank SC Lowy signalled the potential it sees in the Italian banking sector through its acquisition of Credito di Romagna this week. Michel Löwy, CEO of the firm, also views it as a way to expand the firm’s European leveraged finance operations.

Asia’s syndicated loan market is offering razor-sharp funding to sovereign borrowers, and that is not just limited to the more developed countries in the market. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are returning to the market with $1.45bn of loans between them, and both look set to cut their pricing significantly. Pan Yue reports.

Chinese investment banking giant CICC returned to the dollar bond market this week, raising $600m from its first deal in almost two years.

Indonesian issuers continued to keep the market focused on new equity fundraisings, as several IPOs launched this week.

Vietnamese real estate developer No Va Land Investment Group brought a $310m convertible bond and a top-up share placement to the market this week, a combination rarely seen in the region. It capitalised on the rising interest in Vietnam, as the country hosts two record-breaking IPOs, writes Jonathan Breen.

Deutsche Bank has appointed Beng-Hong Lee to the newly created position of head of institutional client group for China.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Nomura and UBS have made senior changes in their equity capital markets and syndicate teams in Asia.