Nomura

UK investors are keen for sterling private placements from Asian banks and the demand is expected to bring new issuers to the market. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation took advantage of the demand to sell its inaugural note in the currency this week.

The yield play sector suffered another blow on May 2 after Lotte Shopping postponed its $1bn Real Estate Investment Trust IPO in Singapore.

The region has the potential to enjoy much more economic growth in the coming quarter century, but governments and business will need to co-operate to conduct the structural changes needed to account for shifting demographics and alarming rises in pollution. Richard Morrow reports.

What will be the key investment themes in Asia over the coming decade?

The CEO of Japan’s largest bank joined Nomura in 1981 as a retail sales­person, and worked his way up to become a manager, overseeing three branches of the bank at different periods. Koji Nagai then moved to investment banking, where he was eventually promoted to run the division, before becoming president of Nomura Securities in April 2012 and group CEO in August of the same year. He tells Asiamoney how Nomura can benefit from Asia’s growing economies.

The yield play sector suffered another blow on Friday after Lotte Shopping announced that it was postponing its $1bn Real Estate investment Trust IPO in Singapore.

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Three periphery issuers took the limelight in the senior market this week — Banco Espírito Santo, Bank of Ireland and La Caixa all selling euro benchmarks. All three issuers can be pleased with their order books — La Caixa recording hefty demand and Bank of Ireland and BES impressing on quality.

Getting ahead of international capital requirements and cutting costs early helped Nomura report a solid set of wholesale results on Wednesday. The numbers, according to the bank, reveal its stability in fixed income at a time when its rivals have been less fortunate.

Bank of Ireland highlighted the rehabilitation of financials from the eurozone's periphery in the eyes of investors on Wednesday by drawing a high quality order book for a new three year benchmark. La Caixa was also in the market with a comfortably oversubscribed three year bond.

Strong demand from European investors allowed Intralot, the Greek gambling products and services provider, to increase its high yield bond to €250m today and close the books ahead of schedule.

Japanese bank Nomura Holdings on Wednesday reported its best results in eight years, with a 52% jump in pre-tax profits for the year ending March 31, buoyed by the strong performance of its retail and wholesale arms.