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The deadline for replies on NGA Human Resources’ £320m seven years term loan ‘B’ passed on Thursday, in a deal that will help the company fully pay down existing debt.

Market participants expect a large step up in senior holdco issuance early next year, putting further pressure on spreads and pushing issuers further afield for funding.

The South Korean government became the first sovereign credit to price a Panda bond on December 15. The country raised Rmb3bn ($467m) from the three year, which saw at least one offshore investor participating, sources close to the deal told GlobalCapital Asia’s sister publication, GlobalRMB.

New York Stock Exchange listed Trina Solar is the latest Chinese company to announce plans to go private, and has picked Industrial Bank as the financial adviser and arranger of the debt financing.

Linzhou Jian Zong Construction & Engineering Co is planning to float in Hong Kong via Guotai Junan Capital as sole sponsor, having filed a listing application with the city’s bourse.

South Korea’s stock exchange regulator has amended rules for listing on the country’s main board, in an effort to make the process easier and encourage more IPOs on the bourse.

In November, at the headquarters of the London Stock Exchange, Global Capital/Asiamoney hosted a roundtable discussion with several leading industry participants about the Masala bond market and its likely development. The discussion took place in the immediate aftermath of prime minister Narendra Modi’s visit to London, which coincided with a commitment for as much as £1bn of new rupee issuance to be listed on the LSE, broadening the market from the early International Finance Corporation and other supranational issuance to the private sector. The rationale for an offshore rupee bond market is clear: India, and in particular the central bank, want to reduce India’s vulnerability to foreign currency borrowing, while also retaining — for the moment — capital controls. For investors, offshore rupee bonds offer an opportunity to gain exposure to the currency, the economy and, as the market matures, specific credits. But the new market will face challenges, some logistical, and others about fundamental questions of governance. How will the Masala bond market evolve?

State Bank of India’s $500m loan has been allocated among 14 lenders, with signing scheduled for this week.

Alkem Laboratories is set to price its Rp13.5bn ($202.1m) IPO at the top of the range after investors piled into the trade, buoyed by healthy demand for the Indian pharmaceutical sector.

Syndication for a $145m loan backing the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of business process outsourcing assets in India is close to winding up.

Argentine energy company Medanito will wait until January to attempt its debut international bond issuance.

China’s move to measure the renminbi against a trade weighted basket of currencies rather than just the US dollar is a sign from that central bank that it will be more tolerate of a weakening RMB, say FX traders.