JP Morgan

Royal Dutch Shell’s £47bn takeover offer for BG Group may bypass the public equity capital market — at any rate, no public issue has been mentioned to finance the £13.1bn cash element of the purchase price. But Shell has raised its asset disposal target for 2016-18 to $30bn.

JP Morgan is rejigging its Asia ECM syndicate desk in the wake of the recent departure of Eliot Fisk, who is understood to have left in February.

The Korean DCM market is finally showing some signs of life, with Shinhan Bank opening books for a dollar denominated bond on April 8. Even though the Korean lender is expected to print a deal of only $350m-$500m, market observers are still excited by its appearance as it could be the first of a long list of names.

Noble Group, a commodities supplier, has launched into general a $2.25bn financing that is being led by a 15-strong group of banks.

A pipeline of financial institution deals is assembling following the Easter break, with ING hitting the road for its additional tier one deal in three continents and Achmea announcing a senior unsecured transaction.

Azelis, the chemicals distribution business formed from the merger of Novorchem and Arnaud, closed books on a €240m acquisition loan on Wednesday.

UK energy company Centrica has sold its first hybrid bonds, as prospects for issuance of the subordinated instruments remains strong.

ING is set to leap into the post-Easter market for its first additional tier one deal, looking to add to a recent hot streak for subordinated paper.

Taiwan’s TPK Holding raised $384m from a simultaneous convertible bond and placement of shares, this week, bringing welcome relief to the equity-linked drought in Asia ex-Japan. The overwhelming investor response and solid aftermarket performance proved there is a hunger for paper, writes Rashmi Kumar. But the market is only open for the right names at the right terms, bankers warned.

Hong Kong-listed Brightoil Petroleum has pulled a HK$776.75m ($100.19m) block deal after launch, with the company saying the trade was not in its best interests.

The post-Easter deal pipeline began to fill on Wednesday, with ING mandating banks to arrange investor meetings ahead of its debut additional tier one trade.

Two big loans to back European acquisitions by Asian borrowers have underscored the strong appetite in the region for outbound M&A. But the deals may not help syndicated loan volumes in Asia. They are likely to be mostly sold into the European market, where there has been pricing compression, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.