Greater China

Société Générale has appointed Yann Garnier as head of global markets for Asia Pacific, replacing Frank Drouet who recently took on the role of head of global markets.

Paediatric nutrition company Biostime has signed up one lender to arrange a $450m take out of a bridge loan raised last year for the acquisition of Swisse Wellness.

BOC Aviation has begun investor education for its $2bn IPO in Hong Kong, with pre-marketing expected to continue into the early part of next week, said a source close to the transaction.

Rohan Lamba, an executive director in Nomura’s Asia ex-Japan equity capital markets desk in Hong Kong, is leaving at the end of April, said sources close to the situation.

Ford Auto Finance (China) returned to the auto ABS market last week with a Rmb2.98bn ($458m) offering that allowed it to cut its funding costs by 30bp.

China International Capital Corp (CICC) and Bank of Chongqing are prepping for their respective bonds in the offshore or onshore debt markets.

BNP Paribas has hired Citi veteran David Ratliff as its new head of financial institutions coverage for Asia Pacific, sources close to the move have told GlobalCapital Asia.

A senior banker in charge of structured loans at Hang Seng Bank is set to leave after more than a decade, according to sources.

Oil and gas giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) opened books for a 144A/Reg S triple-tranche dollar offering on Monday, taking advantage of a buoyant primary Asian bond market.

China is moving forward with plans to open an international bond marketplace in the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ), with sources telling GlobalRMB that Euroclear is set to link the onshore platform with offshore investors. Separately, plans by competitor Clearstream to help global investors gain standardised access to the China interbank bond market (CIBM) are slated for an October launch.

Ping An Real Estate Capital, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance Group, has received enough commitments to increase the size of its $200m loan, said sources.

A pair of investment grade issuers, Maybank and JD.com, ventured into the dollar bond market on Friday albeit with quite different trades.