Asia Pacific

An unnamed institutional investor has launched a block sale of shares in Pakistan-based Oil & Gas Development Co worth up to Prp5.9bn ($50.8m).

Nomura’s head of equity syndicate for Asia ex-Japan Ortwin Gierhake is no longer with the firm, sources close to the matter said.

Chinese president Xi Jinping delivered the message everybody wanted to hear: despite the trade spat with the US, China will keep opening up its markets to foreign firms. But the speech was light on substance. The remarks feel like more of China’s vintage ‘stall and delay’ strategy rather than the much-touted ‘new era’. That could backfire, especially since Donald Trump seems hell-bent on making his aggressive trade policy towards China a reality.

Chinese real estate companies Cifi Holdings Group Co and Fujian Yango Group Co rolled out three year dollar bonds on Thursday, paying investors hefty premiums to get their deals done.

Yuexiu Property Company priced a two-tranche dollar bond on Thursday but decided to ditch a potential offshore renminbi deal. Separately, Peking University Founder Group Co returned with another bond with a keepwell structure for $425m.

China rejects suggestions that it is speeding up liberalisation due to US pressure, regulators tout the rebooting of outbound investment channels, and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and KraneShares make an ETF tracking Chinese internet companies available in renminbi.

Sri Lanka has sent out a request for proposals for an up to $1bn-equivalent offshore loan, which can be denominated in dollars, Japanese yen or euros.

Pakistan is back in the offshore syndicated loan market for a $450m facility led by two banks.

China-based Daqo New Energy Corp, which makes silicon wafers for solar cells, has bagged $110m after pricing its follow-on of American Depository Shares (ADS) at the bottom of guidance.

Summit Power International has opened books for the first IPO of a Bangladeshi firm in Singapore, hoping to raise $260m.

Tucker Highfield, Credit Suisse’s head of equity syndicate for Asia ex-Japan, has left the firm to join Bank of America Merrill Lynch, according to sources.

Citi has appointed one of its most senior bankers Angel Ng as head of Hong Kong and Macau, according to a press release on Friday.