Northeast Asia

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Shu Nagata and Tucker Highfield as co-heads of Asia Pacific equity capital markets, according to a memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

A new group of investors is set to arrive in China's bond market as index providers prepare to include Chinese bonds in their benchmarks. But these new entrants will likely follow the path set by institutional investors in China, sticking with government bonds and short-dated paper, according to BNP Paribas.

A shareholder of Hong Kong-listed Far East Horizon raked in HK$1.8bn ($231.5m) from an overnight placement in which one investor bid for the entire trade.

China's onshore dollar bond market could provide an alternative to quota-based outbound investment schemes, allowing banks a novel way of deploying their dollar deposits, according to a senior trader at BNP Paribas.

The International Development Association, part of the World Bank Group, is on screens with its debut bond issue. The trade is offering a handful of basis points over seasoned World Bank Group issuer the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (known as World Bank), according to bankers away from the mandate.

The Panda issuance streak continued last week as logistics company GLP sold its third Panda bond in as many weeks, taking home Rmb1.2bn ($190.7m) from China's onshore market.

UBS has appointed senior equity capital markets banker Hannah Malter to the position of Asia head of ECM syndicate, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Chinese property developers are rushing to sell dollar bonds as momentum picks up and the market stabilises. While heavy supply is weighing on investors’ minds, their familiarity with the sector and issuers’ willingness to pay up may be able to safeguard the deals.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Singapore branch aims to underwrite IPOs of Chinese companies in the city-state after receiving accreditation as an issue manager from the Singapore Exchange.

China plans to turn Hainan into its latest trade laboratory, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns countries joining the Belt and Road Initiative against accumulating excessive debt, and the securities watchdog says it will allow international participants to trade onshore iron ore futures by early May.

Nomura’s head of equity syndicate for Asia ex-Japan Ortwin Gierhake is no longer with the firm, sources close to the matter said.

Chinese president Xi Jinping delivered the message everybody wanted to hear: despite the trade spat with the US, China will keep opening up its markets to foreign firms. But the speech was light on substance. The remarks feel like more of China’s vintage ‘stall and delay’ strategy rather than the much-touted ‘new era’. That could backfire, especially since Donald Trump seems hell-bent on making his aggressive trade policy towards China a reality.