Loans and High Yield

Times China Holdings, Yango Group and Greenland Hong Kong Holdings, all of which are real estate developers, raised $840m between them from the bond market on Thursday, continuing a recent revival in issuance from the sector.

Investment firm China Renaissance Holdings has closed its debut offshore borrowing of $300m.

Direct lenders are brandishing low levels of default rates through the coronavirus pandemic as proof of the resilience of the asset class, and are using this track record to attract more investors. But not all funds are equal, and now potential LPs can scrutinise the performance of funds through a full credit cycle and allocate accordingly.

Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, which tapped the loan market for a $7.2bn bridge loan last year to acquire retail giant Tesco’s Asia business, is now seeking covenant waivers on the fundraising. The move — which bankers say is triggered in part by CP’s plan to offload some of its newly-gained stake in Tesco — has hurt lenders’ confidence in the Thai conglomerate and raised questions around its strategy. Pan Yue reports.

Adler Pelzer has finally priced a €75m mirror note, replicating the terms of its 4.125% 2024s, with BNP Paribas as sole global co-ordinator. JP Morgan, the original gloco, first announced the deal two weeks earlier, an extraordinarily long syndication process for a tiny bond from an established issuer — and an indication, alongside the eventual 92.50 price, that selling the issue was a challenge.

Zhongyu Gas Holdings, a Hong-Kong listed natural gas distribution company, pulled its debut dollar bond on Tuesday evening after setting final guidance, leading some away from the trade to speculate that an aggressive pricing approach scuppered the deal. But its hiccup didn’t deter other issuers from hitting the market. Morgan Davis reports.

Jinke Property Group Co raised $325m from its bond market return on Tuesday, with its deal receiving peak demand of about $1.45bn during bookbuilding.

Deutsche Bank held a three hour “deepdive” into its sustainability actions for clients, investors, the press and NGOs last week, with its CEO Christian Sewing and all its business heads. It coincided with an array of announcements, which even earned a favourable comment from Moody’s, including that Deutsche is accelerating its €200bn sustainable financing target. But those hoping for more detail on how Deutsche will decarbonise its financing were disappointed.

Polish synthetic rubber group Synthos announced a €500m high yield bond on Tuesday, following its recent agreement to buy two specialist rubber businesses from Trinseo for $449m. It will fund the acquisition through cash but it launched the new bond to pay down its existing term loan and put in place a more flexible capital structure, including an increased €500m revolving credit facility.

Debut Chinese borrowers are steadily returning to the dollar loan market, taking advantage of economic recovery in the country to raise money to finance their capital expenditure.

Three Chinese borrowers and one Hong Kong issuer hit the international bond market on Monday, getting ahead of a pick-up in deal flow expected in the rest of the week.

Kartesia, the alternative asset manager known for financing small to mid-cap companies, has raised its fifth private debt fund mandated to look for deals beyond private equity sponsors.