Greater China

Hungary landed a double milestone on Thursday as its first international bond in four years became the first dim sum bond since November 2015. And while the pricing of the deal has drawn criticism, it proved that RMB is a viable option for CEE sovereigns looking to diversify into Asian currencies.

Foreign central banks will be allowed to repatriate their RMB holdings without restrictions if they have invested in China’s interbank bond market (CIBM) or traded in the onshore foreign exchange market, said the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) in two announcements released on April 14.

Chinese search engine company Baidu is tapping the Asian syndicated loan market for the first time, opening a $1bn dual-trancher to lenders. It is offering close to what peers paid on recent loans, despite its more concentrated business model, but there is speculation it could be lining up an acquisition, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

The securitization of non-performing loans was the main topic of discussion at the China Securitization Forum 2016 in Beijing as the market gets to grips with the new product.

Green financing in China is blossoming after the inaugural offering from a non-financial firm last week and with the Brics bank also mulling a green bond. With the market taking off, participants want regulators to strengthen the supervision of proceeds to ensure the asset class also grows in quality. Narae Kim reports.

AK Medical Holdings has filed a preliminary prospectus for its planned Hong Kong IPO, with Goldman Sachs as sole sponsor.

Ford Auto Finance (China) is poised to launch its first auto ABS transaction of the year with a Rmb2.98bn ($464m) deal scheduled to open books next week.

A spate of dim sum MTN issuance that began with Australian banks has spread to include Canadian, Middle Eastern and European institutions.

Chinese bank participation as originators of securitized deals is likely to remain limited as there is little incentive for banks to offload assets from their balance sheets, structured finance specialists have said.

It was that time of the year again last weekend when rugby (and drinking) fans from around the world descend on Hong Kong for the Sevens, clogging up the island with fancy dress and drunken mischief.

China’s plans to reduce the pressure on its financial sector by pushing banks to securitize non-performing loans (NPLs) is plausible. But several conditions will first have to be met for the product to take off, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s head of international structured finance research Alexander Batchvarov.

Citi has created a new position of head of corporate banking for Asia Pacific, naming Gerry Keefe in the role.