Loans and High Yield

Leveraged finance bankers coping with a slump in deal flow in Asia this year are gearing up for a bumper start to 2021, as a return of liquidity and growing interest from institutional investors for loans set the stage for a market revival. Pan Yue reports.

ReNew Power, the Indian renewable energy giant, brought a $325m green bond to the market on Tuesday. It offered investors a rare opportunity to buy a high yielding deal from the country, despite using a fairly unusual structure for its transaction.

UBS's investment bank beat analyst consensus as capital markets revenue was up sharply year-on-year, while a sale of intellectual property rights resulted in a one-off gain, the bank showed in third quarter results on Tuesday.

Getlink, the company that operates the Channel Tunnel, is preparing a €700m high yield green bond to refinance its 2023 bonds and raise cash for capex, including finishing off a landmark electricity connection between the UK and France. The refi comes after it negotiated waivers on the covenants in its term loan to deal with the impact of the pandemic.

More Singaporean companies are making the transition to a new local currency benchmark rate in preparation for the end of Libor, with Sembcorp Industries becoming the latest firm to raise a loan linked to Sora.

Indonesia’s Pan Brothers has requested Moody’s to withdraw its corporate issuer rating after a spate of downgrades this year, as the textile company struggles to put together a loan to meet some of its looming maturities.

Leveraged companies or sponsors seeking financing are moving quickly to fund in the immediate aftermath of the November 3 US election. Monday morning saw more than €3bn-equivalent of new supply across high yield bonds and loans announced, across six separate issuers.

VPBank Finance Co, the consumer finance arm of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank, has made a rapid return for a $150m loan.

JP Morgan's Raj Kapadia has joined MUFG as international head of capital markets, as the firm increases its leveraged finance focus. It has also set up a new group to advise clients at the C-suite level on market and macroeconomic developments, led by Tom Joyce, a hire from Deutsche Bank.

Indonesia coal producer Indika Energy was back in the debt market on Thursday with a $450m bond.

Asia’s dollar bond market has been swamped with new deals this week. Thursday was no different, with corporate borrowers from Greater China alone raising just over $3bn between them.

Taiwan-based notebook computer maker Inventec has increased the size of its revolving loan to $500m after attracting 11 participants during syndication.