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The Republic of the Philippines has pulled off a mammoth Ps263bn ($5.6bn) transaction, switching investors out of existing domestic bonds into new notes, with bondholders flooding in despite a volatile economic backdrop. The sovereign’s liability management exercise was well worth the effort with savings of about Ps2.4bn expected in the first year.

Egypt is planning to launch another deal from its $10bn conventional bond programme before year end, which should be followed by an international sukuk, delegates at the Euromoney Egypt Conference in Cairo heard this week.

Holders of Privatbank’s 2015 bonds agreed to a reprofiling, the lender announced this week. But the terms of the agreement present those same bondholders with an incentive to scupper a similar agreement on Privatbank’s 2016 notes, analysts said.

Abu Dhabi's Union National Bank has closed books for its three year loan and will increase it from the launch size of $500m, according to a banker on the deal.

Moody’s has upgraded Colombian energy company Empresa de Energía de Bogotá (EBB) from Baa3 to Baa2, providing a rare spot of good news amid a spate of downgrades for Latin American corporates.

Indian pharmaceutical major Biocon, which approached the overseas loan market in July for a $200m loan, has seen five lenders join the syndicate.

The International Finance Corp (IFC) opened books on its second ever Islamic bond deal on Tuesday, a rare amortising sukuk and one of two SSA Islamic deals scheduled for September.

In the confusing world of China’s investor access programmes, one thing regulators have made clear is that hedge funds are not welcome. The launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect gave the industry access the mainland markets, but the recent stock market trouble has seen regulators take a much harder stance.

The Standard Chartered RMB Globalisation Index (RGI) rose 2.3% in July, on the previous month — its first positive result in four months — despite the stock market rout that has weighed on Chinese market sentiment, the bank said in a September 8 report.

RHB Capital has fixed the pricing for its rights offer to raise MR2.5bn ($581.5m), as the bank embarks on an internal restructuring and shores up capital to help meet Basel III requirements.

A lack of confidence in the renminbi will hurt demand for offshore renminbi bonds and decrease CNH liquidity, according to a new report by Dagong Global Credit Rating (Hong Kong), writes Daniel Monteiro.

A $240m dividend recapitalisation loan for Asia Satellite Telecommunications' (AsiaSat) sponsor Carlyle has been allocated, with eight lenders joining during general syndication.