Loans and High Yield

China Aoyuan Group has closed a $230m-equivalent club loan with eight banks.

Thailand’s ministry of finance has approved two foreign companies to issue baht-denominated bonds, including the first Vietnamese borrower to tap the market.

The Green Bond Principles organisation has gone public with its plans to set up a working group on sustainability-linked bonds. It will be charged with working out whether the GBP should issue guidance on the new structure — a move that would ensure the GBP remains relevant as the sustainable finance market changes.

Credit Suisse has streamlined its investment banking and capital markets operation (IBCM) and is confident that it will return to form after a chastening 2019, writes David Rothnie.

Southeast European telecoms group United Group, a BC Partners and KKR portfolio company, is marketing an all-bond financing package for its takeover of Bulgaria’s Vivacom, marketing new senior secured bonds and an add-on to its existing 2025 PIK notes.

Altice France jumped into one of the busiest weeks on record for European leveraged loans and high yield issuance, issuing €2.1bn of bonds and simplying the group’s capital structure. Despite the complexities of the exchange, eager buyers showed up for the bond, taking down Caa1/CCC+ debt at just 4%.

The risk that huge amounts of oil and gas assets will be stranded by moves to tackle the climate emergency may be more pertinent for sovereign credit than for private sector corporate debt, according to new research.

Swedish PE firm EQT Partners has mandated JP Morgan to advise as it considers divesting its credit business. The strategic shift at EQT is happening as the private credit sector is getting increasingly crowded.

Private equity firms are looking at different ways of monetising their investments, rather than the usual IPO routes, as regulation makes smaller firms less viable in the public markets. Alternative capital providers outside the usual buyout community are also boosting their allocations to private assets.

HSBC is looking for a new head of corporate finance coverage to replace Matthew Wallace, who is quitting the firm. Meanwhile, Simon Derrick and Michael Ellam have been handed new jobs as the bank reorganises the way it covers investors and public sector institutions. In Asia Pacific, Rami Hayek is leaving his post.

Green bond volumes reached a record level in 2019 and market participants think the sector is poised for another blow-out year. Korea South-East Power Co (Kosep) and ReNew Power Private gave a further boost to Asia’s growing green bond market this week, selling $750m of notes between them. Morgan Davis reports.

Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) is making its second attempt to raise a syndicated loan, after pulling a deal in 2017. It is one of several Vietnamese borrowers now planning a debut in the international market, reports Pan Yue.