China

Yanlord Land Group, a Singapore incorporated real estate developer, kicked off a series of investor meetings on April 18 for a Panda bond offering. The trade will be the first Panda from a Singaporean issuer in the onshore exchange market.

Lou Jiwei, the Chinese minister of finance, lambasted the credit rating agencies, following last month’s decisions by Moody’s and S&P to downgrade the country’s sovereign debt outlook.

China launched a trial for the country’s first pair of domestic green bond indices last week as the budding asset class continues to gain traction.

Fortune Oil PRC Holdings, which is in the market for a $240m three year loan, has received one commitment so far with a score of lenders expressing interest in the credit.

A senior member of Citi’s Asia Pacific securitized products unit has left the bank, sources close to the move have told GlobalCapital Asia.

Global fund managers who can set up their China business around opportunities in both onshore and cross-border flows will be best placed to take advantage of China’s ongoing opening of its capital account, according to Z-Ben Advisors.

The head of Natixis’ Asia Pacific debt platform Devan Selvanathan is leaving after more than four years at the bank, according to sources close to the move.

China Aoyuan Property Group hit the market for a three year dollar bond on Monday in what is only the fourth transaction in the currency this year from the country’s high yield property sector.

The Export-Import Bank of China is poised to return to the offshore bond market this week, lining up banks to hold investor calls for a dual-currency, triple-tranche offering.

The recently established New Development Bank Brics (NDB Brics) has mandated four Chinese banks and two global banks on its upcoming debut bond outing — an onshore renminbi-denominated green offering. The proceeds will be used to support the supranational’s green projects, several sources close to the deal told GlobalRMB.

CLSA said in a research report released on Friday that it expects the renminbi to weaken by 25% in the next 20 months, predicting more pain for the region before the currency starts rebounding in 2018.

In this round-up, trade settlement picked up in March, Asian exchanges saw declining USDCNY futures volumes, Nigeria will include the RMB in its FX reserves, a survey found the RMB is likely to replace the Hong Kong dollar as most popular currency in HK, and a new cross-border scheme was established between Singapore and China. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.