Goldman Sachs

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are taking a knife to their Asian investment banking operations amid slower capital markets activity and as competition from Chinese lenders intensifies. This is just the latest in a series of culls in Asia as global banks struggle to find a suitable model. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

CK Hutchison raised $1.25bn and another €1bn ($1.12bn) on Wednesday, whetting investors’ appetite with a good marketing strategy and wise timing, according to bankers.

Hong Kong-headquartered conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings is readying a global sweep of debt markets to raise refinancing funds, announcing on Wednesday morning that it intends to sell a euro-denominated eight year senior unsecured bond just hours after announcing a dollar trade in Hong Kong.

The dollar market for SSAs is set to spark into life on Thursday, with one issuer lining up a debut deal in the currency and another attempting to print at the lowest spread to mid-swaps this year.

BASF SE was on Wednesday set to become the first sterling issuer into the primary market with an outstanding bond that is already eligible for purchase under the Bank of England’s Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme, which kicked off on Tuesday.

International investment banks are taking a knife to their Asian operations amid slower capital markets activity, even as competition from Chinese lenders intensifies.

CK Hutchison Holdings is seeking fresh funds to refinance debt, and is eyeing a dual-tranche dollar bond with five and 10 year tenors.

A pair of public sector borrowers were able to sell tightly priced euro deals on Tuesday, with another two trades likely to follow on Wednesday.

Shui On Development made its return to the international bond market on Monday after almost two years, bagging $250m from a new three year unrated offering.

Deutsche Lufthansa pulled a planned €500m seven year trade on Monday, not the first time the issuer has pulled a deal from the corporate bond market.

A French agency is set to bring a euro benchmark in the shortest tenor seen since the end of the summer, while a Dutch agency is about to sell its longest dated syndication ever in the currency.

One of the biggest Chinese bad debt managers China Cinda Asset Management sealed a $3.2bn deal last Friday, marking the country’s first AT1 from a non-bank entity. In addition, it is also the largest dollar deal from a Chinese issuer so far this year.