News content
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Tat Hong Holdings, a Singapore-listed supplier of heavy machinery, has picked Taiwan Stock Exchange as the venue for listing its tower crane rental businesses in China.
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Dongfeng Nissan Auto Finance completed its return to the Chinese auto loan ABS market with a Rmb1.5bn ($242m) deal this week. Not only did the joint venture firm manage to get a bigger trade done, it also got far better pricing this time around than in its debut last year.
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Everbright Securities Co has mandated seven banks to work on what would be the company’s first outing to the international bond market.
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On July 15, 2015, Afren announced that the expected level of near term production would likely be materially lower than what had been announced alongside the proposed restructuring on March 13.
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The collapse of Afren, the once-proud London-listed oil exploration and production company with three bond issues to its name, is a shocking reminder of the risks investors face in emerging markets, and of how even some of the most sophisticated players in financial markets can get things drastically wrong.
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The situation was no longer tenable. Afren’s management determined that it needed more money, and a debt restructuring, to stay afloat. In January, Afren said it had begun talking to creditors about its capital structure.
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July 31 is Afren’s day of disaster. In 2014, on that day, the London-listed oil explorer revealed a corruption scandal that reached the highest echelons of its management. Its chief executive and chief operating officer were suspended, the share price faltered, and trust in the business was shaken.
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Frustrated with the terms of the restructuring, and distrustful of Afren and its bondholders, Afren Legal Action tried to revitalise hopes of finding a buyer for Afren. A bid for Afren had been widely considered a good solution to its problems, going back to 2014. Afren, once a poster child for Africa’s energy sector, was potentially still an attractive asset.
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Asog was just one Afren shareholder force jockeying for position. As the share price fell, institutional investors, which had dominated Afren’s register, sold some of their shares to other kinds of investor.
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On July 31, 2015, Afren went into administration. There was no public outcry, though several national papers in the UK ran the news. Afren had never been a household name.
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Whether prices in Brazilian bonds really have found a floor or not, several bond investors say they are now finding value in the country’s debt markets after a sustained sell-off was halted by a better-than-expected downgrade from Moody’s this week.
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Holiday season is well and truly here in the LatAm bond market with origination and syndicate bankers claiming there is little to be done by way of new issues until September.