HSBC

Burgan Bank

Kazakhstan is meeting investors for what looks set to be its long awaited return to the market. The sovereign has not issued a bond since 2000 and its comeback has been eagerly anticipated.

Philippine retailer SSI Group has started investor meetings for an IPO worth around Ps10.8bn ($243m), which will see the company offering a combination of primary and secondary shares.

A Basel III landmark was notched up this week as Bank of Communications (BoCom) became the first Chinese bank to issue without the use of an overseas entity. But despite the pioneering nature of the tier two deal, the market’s focus remains firmly on upcoming additional tier one (AT1) issuance, with some investors staying clear of BoCom in preparation for the higher yielding deals, writes Rev Hui.

Kazakhstan is meeting investors for what looks set to be its long awaited return to the market. The sovereign has not issued a bond since 2000 and its comeback has been eagerly anticipated.

A Japanese lender has joined the eleven leads on Tata Steel’s multi-currency jumbo fundraising and three to four more banks are expected to come in before the loan goes into general.

Zhejiang Provincial Energy (ZPE) sold the first dollar bond from a provincial level Chinese state owned enterprise on Tuesday. Buoyed by ZPE’s credit strength and Zhejiang province’s strong fiscal position, the three year issue was a hit among investors and sets a solid foundation for the emergence of similar credits in the dollar market, writes Isabella Zhong.

Oil rig maker Honghua Group made its inaugural issue in international markets on Thursday, September 18. Having opted for the Reg S /144A format to tap into the US investor base, the Chinese company pulled in an impressive $1.4bn order book for the $200m five year non call paper.

Hong Kong’s Chong Hing Bank managed to navigate a tight issuance window in the week of September 15 to tap the market with what is only the second US dollar denominated AT1 trade from an Asian lender. The $300m perpetual non call five transaction proved to be such a hit with investors that books ended up more than 16x covered, which allowed the lender to shave 25bp off the pricing of its closest comparable.

Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecoms subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, opened its $1.5bn dual facility refinancing loan for general syndication on September 19, with a mandated lead arranger and bookrunner group of 15 banks.

Seven German regions enjoyed super tight pricing versus swaps when clubbing together for a Joint Laender deal this week. The issuers priced a no-grow €1bn September 2024 on Wednesday morning at the tightest spread to Bunds for a Joint Laender deal in more than seven years — and the tightest ever spread over mid-swaps for a 10 year.

Orange, the French telecoms company, showed the potential of the hybrid capital market for financing mergers and acquisitions today, when it raised €3bn towards its €3.4bn acquisition of Jazztel, just eight days after announcing the bid. Orange did not use a bridge loan for the deal.