Northeast Asia

Profit Reach, an investment vehicle owned by Chinese billionaire Shen Guojun, is seeking a $550m refinancing loan with a rare put option provided to lenders. The deal has raised debate over whether the structure can catch on in Asia. Pan Yue reports.

Bank of China has received the green light to raise as much as Rmb40bn ($5.88bn) from a perpetual additional tier one bond in its domestic market, opening a new funding channel for Chinese banks. But although a flagship bank is leading the way, smaller institutions may find the perpetual format more compelling. Rebecca Feng reports.

Club-style Chinese deals were back this week as Peking University Founder Group Co raised $150m from a three year bond and Yankuang Group grabbed $215m.

Goldman Sachs has appointed Jung Min as co-head of its Asia Pacific ex-Japan technology, media and telecom group.

The steep drop in equity capital market volumes in Asia this year is not worrying bankers just yet, as they set their sights on a pick-up in deal flow after the Chinese New Year holiday in early February.

Mongolian Mortgage Corp (MIK) showed that investors have the appetite to take on frontier market risk, raising a larger-than-expected $250m from an issuance that was months in the making.

China Evergrande Group hit its size goal of $3bn with a tap of three of its existing bonds, a strategic decision by the property developer. But the issuance dented its secondary curve as noteholders fled to the juicier new transaction.

Ping An Real Estate, a unit of Ping An Group, is returning to the loan market for an up to $300m borrowing after a two-year absence.

Far East Horizon has opened into syndication a $580m-equivalent three year term loan via six mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Samsung BioLogics has caught a break after a South Korean court suspended the disciplinary action brought against the company by the country’s financial regulator for alleged accounting fraud.

South Korea’s Suhyup Bank returned to the international bond market on Tuesday after a near five year hiatus to raise $300m.

Investors swarmed to Johnson Electric Holdings’ maiden dollar bond transaction, allowing the borrower to raise $300m from a nearly six times oversubscribed deal at its peak.