Loans and High Yield

Legal action launched by six Taiwanese lenders against Nomura for a syndicated loan that went into default, has unearthed simmering conflicts in the tightly knit Asian syndicated loan community. The fallout will have ramifications for Nomura and the wider loan market, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

French telecoms firm Altice and US software firm Veritas are returning for a second stab at the European levfin market — after the former shunned euros for dollars in April and the latter failed to sell its LBO debt in November.

Zhongyu Gas fires up refi — Trans Corp hit syndication — Cheng Loong raising Vietnam funds — Global Bank gets bigger loan

After three months of pumping issuance and tightening spreads, the moment has arrived. On Wednesday, the European Central Bank finally entered the investment grade corporate bond market as a buyer.

The Asian ex-Japan high yield bond market received a boost on Wednesday with Samvardhana Motherson Automotive Systems Group and Xuzhou Economic and Technology Development Zone State-Owned Assets Management (Xuzhou ETDZ) opening books for their dollar debuts.

Titan Cement is set to become the first high yield issuer of the year from Greece, after more than six months without issuance from the country.

The Irish telecommunications firm Eircom Holdings on Tuesday issued a benchmark size secured bond at 25bp inside guidance levels — giving encouragement to the group of other issuers waiting in the pipeline.

Artsana, the Italian babycare products manufacturer, will not allocate its €575m debt package for at least another week, according to a banker on the deal.

A senior banker covering onshore China loans at Standard Chartered is set to step into the shoes of Lewis Wong, who quit as regional head of loan syndications for Greater China and northeast Asia, in May.

An executive director who quit the loans syndicate and distribution team of Standard Chartered in April, has joined UBS.

China’s curb on capital outflows means the Panda bond market is yet to live up to the excitement generated by a series of high profile transactions last year. But György Barcza, CEO of the Hungary Government Debt Management Agency, is committed to pushing out a transaction even if the ability to repatriate proceeds offshore remains uncertain. Rev Hui reports.

Apollo Investment Corp’s president has resigned after four years at the firm.