Greater China

Investors welcomed the inaugural appearance from Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts (TVB) in the dollar bond market. Hong Kong credits remain a rarity in G3 and the deal provided some nice diversity from a well-known brand.

China Citic Bank International bucked concerns about the health of the European banking industry, driven by Deutsche Bank’s financial troubles, to seal a $500m additional tier one on Thursday.

Institutions have spent months preparing for the launch of the new IMF special drawing rights (SDR) basket on October 1 since the decision to include the RMB was made last year. The mechanics include managing divergent onshore and offshore rates, Jukka Pihlman, global head of central banks and sovereign funds, Standard Chartered, and former IMF official, told GlobalRMB.

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.

Five banks have clubbed together to supply a $300m three year term loan to Hong Kong-listed company Sino Biopharmaceutical.

A number of Asian borrowers are choosing to prepay their syndicated loans for various reasons, including a bearish outlook on growth. Their actions are compounding the woes of loan syndications bankers, who are already battling low deal activity, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Honma Golf priced its Hong Kong IPO near the top of expectations on Thursday, raising HK$1.34bn ($172.7m) for the Japanese maker of premium golf clubs as long-only funds climbed onboard.

Siong Ooi, who until recently was head of the Asia Pacific syndicated and leveraged finance unit at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), is understood to be heading to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) in December, according to multiple sources.

China’s Panda bond market is gaining traction with the National Bank of Canada (NBC) establishing a Rmb5bn ($750m) programme, becoming only the second issuer from the country to seek onshore renminbi.

Hong Kong conglomerate New World Development benefited from a market pick-up on Wednesday, with its strong household name helping it raise $1.2bn from a perpetual non-call five bond.

It has been a busy period for the structured finance community in China with three lenders securitizing a combined Rmb3.28bn ($491m) worth of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the space of a week.

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.