Greater China

Svenska Handelsbanken became the first continental European issuer to sell Hong Kong renminbi bonds this week, raising Rmb170m ($25.79m) from a deal that it will not attempt to remit to mainland China.

Hong Kong’s renminbi bond market is developing at a breakneck pace but volumes are being held back by the lack of a liquid currency swap market. However, analysts predict that will change in 2011 — encouraging a greater variety of issuers to tap the market.

Zhong An Real Estate postponed its synthetic renminbi deal this week, due to fears over recent supply and government measures to cool China’s property market. The company will talk to key investors after Chinese New Year and then decide whether to make a second attempt.

State-owned Bank of India has picked banks to arrange a series of meetings that could lead to the first dollar bond from an Indian bank this year.

Morgan Stanley returned to Singapore’s domestic bond market this week, after more than three years away, and raised S$300m ($233.9m).

The offshore renminbi market continued its rapid expansion this week, as borrowers from opposite ends of the credit spectrum — supranational lender International Finance Corp and mainland department store operator PCD Stores — sold their own deals and more issuers lined up to tap the market.

Bank of Moscow this week became only the second Russian borrower to sell debt in Singapore’s bond market, raising S$150m ($117.2m) from a deal that offered investors a big premium over VTB Bank’s market-opening issue last year.

Malaysian state-owned water company Pengurusan Aset Air Bhd raised M$2.7bn ($884.2m) this week, returning to its domestic market to sell a three-tranche deal that attracted orders of around $3.4bn.