Asia Pacific

The block trade market in Asia came to life in spectacular fashion as firms chalked up nearly $4bn from share sales in just the first three weeks of January. The rally in stocks has brought a horde of cash to overnight fundraisings, with bankers seeing few signs of the momentum stopping any time soon. John Loh reports.

Crédit Ag’s Sodhi takes global role – Daiwa equity-linked banker exits – Deutsche builds up loans team – Nomura hires DCM banker – Mizuho names CEO – MUFG appoints Philippines head – Russell-Davison joins Amana Bank

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Mizuho Bank opened the Panda bond market for Japanese issuers on January 12, with both crossing the finish line on the same day.

It’s bonus season again and what has until recently been a time of either great triumph or great sorrow has turned out quite well in Hong Kong.

Country Garden Holdings wowed the market this week with a HK$23.5bn ($3bn) print in both the equity and equity-linked formats, marking the largest convertible offering from a Chinese property developer.

Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has sold a $320.8m exchangeable sukuk with Hong Kong-listed Citic Securities as the underlying stock, taking advantage of a rally in the broker’s shares.

A receptive market and generous pricing worked in favour of China’s Concord New Energy Group and Indonesia’s Sawit Sumbermas Sarana (SSMS) this week, as both managed to pull off debut dollar bonds two months after failed attempts. Morgan Davis reports.

Chinese biopharmaceutical company BeiGene wrapped up a follow-on offering of its Nasdaq-listed American Depository Shares on Wednesday, raising a larger than expected $750m, according to a company statement.

Three bookrunners have kicked off primary distribution of an up to $150m revolver for Indonesian garment maker Pan Brothers.

South Korean mobile messaging platform Kakao Corp raised $1bn this week from an issue of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs), defying fears it would suffer from its link to a cryptocurrency exchange.

Indonesia’s Tunas Baru Lampung printed its first international bond on Wednesday, a few months after attempting a transaction in Singapore dollars.

Sunny Optical Technology (Group) Company’s $600m bond debut tightened 15bp in the secondary market on its first day of trading, a clear sign of the rampant demand for technology credits. But despite the eye-catching tightening, even rival bankers thought the pricing was spot-on. Addison Gong reports.