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STIC Investment sold down a W121bn ($99.5m) block in South Korean defence firm LIG Nex1 on Thursday, with the trade proving irresistible to investors amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the country.

Hong Kong’s Hsin Chong Construction Group managed to get a difficult $150m bond away this week, braving volatile markets with a two-day execution and private bank backing.

Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional is gearing up for its first Islamic bond in dollars, having mandated banks to arrange a roadshow.

In this round-up, China's RMB trade settlement touches a new high, Hong Kong RMB clearing grew by 30% in 2015, South Korea's RMB deposits shrank by 75% over the year, Singapore plans closer cross-border RMB co-operation with China, and several Belt and Road initiatives were announced. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.

Latin America’s best-rated sovereign reopened the region’s capital markets this week with a dual-currency trade that showed large financings are still on offer — though it also provoked debate over issuance strategies in tough markets.

Lat Am bankers said that the 15bp-20bp new issue concession achieved by Mexico in its first deal of the year was unlikely to be bettered by anyone soon after the sovereign raised $2.25bn in a tough market.

Two leading Latin American sovereigns showed that there is plenty of cash in the market for well-known investment grade borrowers this week, but other issuers in the region looking to raise financing should not expect new issue concessions to compress.

This was the supposed to be the week of the bears. Research analysts warned of economic doom, declaring that the savage sell-offs of the new year were just a foretaste of carnage to come.

Ascential and Countryside Properties this week swelled the ranks of London’s declared IPO hopefuls, which already included CMC Markets and CYBG, as the UK ramps up to what is expected to be a busy IPO season.

Abengoa provided the first credit event auction of the year on Thursday and settled at a low price, after ISDA’s DC reached a split vote decision in December on the Spanish renewable energy company triggering a failure to pay trigger for 2014 credit default swap transactions.

Alvarez & Marsal, the restructuring firm that handled Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, is set to deliver a scheme for Abengoa to avoid bankruptcy early next week. Bankers said the high yield market should cope whether the company survives or not.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s $46bn seven tranche bond issue this week defied expectations that the brewer would have to pay up to finance its takeover of SAB Miller. InBev took out nearly two-thirds of its acquisition financing in one go.