China

After another volatile week, during which primary issuance went from hero to zero and the secondary market tumbled, Asian bond bankers are preparing for what they hope will be a busy last few weeks of the year — possibly until the very last working day of 2018, writes Addison Gong.

Chinese property developer Country Garden Holdings has pocketed HK$7.83bn ($1bn) after using a call spread for a concurrent new issue and buy-back of existing convertible bonds — a popular structure in the US but groundbreaking for Hong Kong. Jonathan Breen reports.

Loans bankers in Asia already bemoaning the reduced outbound M&A driven activity from China could be dealt a further blow after the European Union (EU) said it will start screening foreign direct investment (FDI) more closely. Pan Yue examines the impact this will have on Asia’s leveraged and acquisition financing market.

Government-backed energy firm Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy (BECE) is marketing its first Panda, a Rmb1.2bn ($173m) renewable corporate bond, as a green bond.

Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group Co raised $200m from a bond on Wednesday, using up part of its regulatory quota before the end of the year.

Will foreign investors increase their exposure to China’s micro loan ABS market? Domestic bankers are trying to make that happen — but not everyone thinks they will succeed. Rebecca Feng reports.

Huachen Energy Co’s dollar bonds recovered slightly after the Chinese company said it will not default on its $500m notes, despite skipping a coupon payment and failing to repay an onshore loan.

Online travel agent Tongcheng-Elong Holdings has raised HK$1.41bn ($180m) from its Hong Kong IPO. The leads on the deal had to spend time convincing a number of anchor investors to stay in the transaction given the state of the market.

BMW Automotive Finance will open books for its second auto loan ABS of the year on November 27, another three-trancher worth Rmb4.5bn ($648m).

No bond issuer is safe in this volatile market. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) learned that the hard way when it was forced to pull a dual-tranche floating rate deal last week. Its failure should serve as a warning sign to other borrowers.

Spreads on Chinese property dollar bonds felt the impact of heavy supply on Monday when three companies, Times China Holdings, Greenland Holding Group and China Evergrande Group, brought new issues to the market.

German automaker Mercedes-Benz raised Rmb8bn ($1.15bn) from an auto loan ABS this week, slashing its funding cost just three months after its last foray into the market.