Northeast Asia

UBS has hired Boyang Liu as an associate director on the debt origination team.

Chinese agribusiness company New Hope Group has returned to the loan market for an up to $150m borrowing to refinance a deal sealed in 2015.

South Korea’s Air Busan could launch an IPO of at least W100bn ($89m) by the end of the year, said a banker on the trade.

The Hong Kong bourse saw a raft of IPO filings this week, as issuers made a beeline for what could be a bumper September for new share sales.

We’re eight months into the year, and I’ll admit that my New Year’s resolutions have fallen by the wayside. Although, in all honesty, my “plans” to cut back on the whiskey and take more exercise were more Tai Tai’s ideas than mine. But one friend of mine has – surprisingly – stuck by his goals.

At least $8bn in IPOs from Asian issuers could hit screens in September alone, if everything goes according to plan. But with investor sentiment still on the rocks despite the mid-year lull coming to a close, equity capital markets bankers are hoping for a swift end to what has been a summer of volatility. John Loh reports.

The first onshore China default from a local government financing vehicle (LGFV) has come as a shock to bankers and investors, but the negative news has not had a big impact on sentiment in the international bonds market. One LGFV sold a dollar bond this week and more are lining up, writes Addison Gong.

Taiwan’s leveraged loans market is finally set for some action, with private equity firm KKR seeking a $1.1bn-equivalent dual-currency deal to back its acquisition of LCY Chemical Corp. But uncertainties remain over whether the acquisition will get the government’s go-ahead.

Japan telecoms company SoftBank took another step towards its flotation this week by replacing its intergroup credit with a double-B rated leveraged loan. This followed a high-yield bond sale in April with the same purpose.

Chinese bond issuers were the first out of the gate on Thursday, vying for investors’ attention after public holidays in many parts of Asia shut markets on Wednesday.

While discussions around the possibility of a formal Southbound channel for Bond Connect continue, Chinese regulators have been testing the ground with new initiatives that allow onshore securities houses to tap overseas bonds, GlobalRMB has learned.

Mercedes-Benz Auto Finance has completed the tightest auto asset-backed securitization by any foreign originator in China in almost two years. The deal, which closed on Monday, was twice oversubscribed despite two underwriters dropping out of the syndicate at the eleventh hour.