HSBC

Barclays Bank re-opened the primary covered bond market on Monday by issuing a £1bn ($1.51bn) three year sterling benchmark, and was followed by a pair of Canadian borrowers.

A default by Chinese property developer Kaisa on a HK$400m ($51.6m) bilateral loan from HSBC has triggered a debate on the outlook and credibility of borrowers in the country’s volatile real estate sector. However, bankers believe such cases will be limited to companies lower down the credit curve and do not represent the industry as a whole.

One of Asia’s most consistent sovereign issuers, the Republic of Indonesia, kicked off its first bond of the year on Thursday, January 8. The deal comes just days after the Republic of Philippines successfully sold a $2bn 25 year bond as part of an accelerated switch process.

The Republic of the Philippines overcame an unusually sluggish market this week to print a $2bn bond as part of an accelerated switch process. The Asian bond market was quieter than normal in the first week of the year, thanks to high volatility caused by plummeting global oil prices and fears of a default in the Chinese property sector.

The largest publicly listed coal supplier in the world, China Shenhua Energy, is looking to diversify its financing avenues by dipping into the international debt market for the first time.

State Grid Corp of China, a government-owned utility, has mandated banks for a possible debut euro bond to be issued through its European subsidiary, State Grid Europe Development.

Russian Standard Bank has withdrawn its proposed tier two bond update after failing to secure the consent of holders of nearly half of the bond before the December 16 deadline. The offer looked to be struggling as early as mid-December when the bank increased the late consent fee from 1% to 5% to switch to the new notes.

Republic of the Philippines has become the first Asian issuer out of the blocks in 2015, launching a new 25 year bond and giving investors the option to switch out of 15 outstanding deals.

Property company Greenland Hong Kong’s subsidiary True Thrive has signed a three year dual currency loan term loan with a syndicate of eleven banks.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) has mandated seven banks for its first bond sale of 2015, in a deal that is expected to hit the screens by mid-January. The borrower is making an early start to its fundraising in a year that will see it raise up to $13bn offshore.

British Car Auctions, which claims to be Europe’s biggest secondhand car dealer, has signed a £340m loan – one of the last European leveraged finance deals to close in 2014. The deal raises £265m of new money – just slightly less than the £270m planned.

Zenith Bank of Nigeria is signing a $300m loan today – its first in the international syndicated loan market. The deal was increased from $250m after being oversubscribed.