Loans and High Yield

A $300m dual-tranche borrowing for a subsidiary of palm oil producer Golden-Agri Resources has launched into syndication. The money was funded by four banks in mid-2015.

Deutsche Bank has appointed Jake Gearhart as head of debt syndicate and origination for Asia Pacific.

Bank of Ceylon has decided to pull a $100m loan launched at the end of October 2015 in favour of raising more short-term funding.

Hsin Chong Construction Group is meeting fixed income investors to gauge interest for what would be its second dollar bond.

European high yield specialists hope the continent's market can repeat in 2016 its sharp outperformance compared with the US market last year — but history suggests that the two markets tend not to diverge for long.

High yield has had a tough start to the year. Not a single deal has been announced, amid a fresh bout of risk-aversion in global markets, and the Markit iTraxx Crossover index has widened from 315bp to 339bp.

TDR Capital has set bank meetings for January 12 to market a £745m debt package for its minority investment in Euro Garages, the UK’s second largest independent petrol station operator.

Loans bankers have traded in cautious optimism for realism this year, as weaker currencies and loosening monetary conditions across Asia are expected to weigh on demand for foreign currency debt. Even silver linings such as a potential pick-up in loan activity from India and increased outbound M&A will provide little respite, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

The heavily oversubscribed books for the year’s first three Asia ex-Japan bond deals should not be taken as a sign that issuers will have an easy time in 2016. With macro concerns linked to China once again rearing their ugly head, market participants are predicting a tough year ahead. Rev Hui reports.

Allocations are out for a $145m loan backing the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of Serco’s business process outsourcing assets in India.

Jiangsu NewHeadLine (NHL) broke new ground this week, selling the first high yield bond from a local government financing vehicle. Market participants expect this to be the first of many to come, as the asset class offers both a government link and a yield pick-up over investment grade counterparts.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has increased the size of its latest loan to $325m from $300m after a few more lenders joined the deal at a later stage.