Banks

The Indian arm of oil major Shell broke the quiet in Asia’s overnight block market this week by paring its stake in Mahanagar Gas for Rp11.8bn ($167.9m).

The first onshore China default from a local government financing vehicle (LGFV) has come as a shock to bankers and investors, but the negative news has not had a big impact on sentiment in the international bonds market. One LGFV sold a dollar bond this week and more are lining up, writes Addison Gong.

Taiwan’s leveraged loans market is finally set for some action, with private equity firm KKR seeking a $1.1bn-equivalent dual-currency deal to back its acquisition of LCY Chemical Corp. But uncertainties remain over whether the acquisition will get the government’s go-ahead.

Japan telecoms company SoftBank took another step towards its flotation this week by replacing its intergroup credit with a double-B rated leveraged loan. This followed a high-yield bond sale in April with the same purpose.

Sberbank is merging its corporate banking and Sberbank CIB divisions and plans to complete the integration by the end of 2018, with deputy chairman Anatoly Popov heading the combined entity.

Russia’s Mechel has signed a $1bn-equivalent loan facility, as the metals and mining group pushes ahead with plans to restructure its debt portfolio by the end of 2018.

Chinese bond issuers were the first out of the gate on Thursday, vying for investors’ attention after public holidays in many parts of Asia shut markets on Wednesday.

Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has completed the tightest auto asset-backed securitization by any foreign originator in China in almost two years. The deal, which closed on Monday, was twice oversubscribed despite two underwriters dropping out of the syndicate at the eleventh hour.

BNP Paribas has replaced a member of its London-based SSA syndicate team with an internal appointment, GlobalCapital understands.

National Australia Bank found demand for €2bn of new senior notes on Wednesday, at the same time as offering to buy back €750m of old debt.

Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien) was able to whittle down the new issue concession for its 8 year covered bond on Wednesday, but demand was weaker than for Tuesday’s two trades.

Rabobank welcomed huge demand on Wednesday for its first ever non-preferred senior bond, bringing a deal forward before the Netherlands has legislated for the asset class.