Northeast Asia

Ant Financial subsidiary Alipay (Hong Kong) Holding has launched a $3bn debut syndication via a nine-member bookrunner group. The strong showing at the top is driven by opportunities to cross-sell higher fee-generating products such as private banking, equity advisory and underwriting services to the Alibaba Group-affiliated borrower, reports Shruti Chaturvedi.

Two groups of vendors exited their holdings in two Asian firms this week, with block trades in Hong Kong-listed Imax China Holding and South Korea’s Kakao Corp raising a combined $278.1m.

Chinese property developer Jingrui Holdings leveraged off a yield-hunting environment and its strong financial improvement to raise $400m from its return to the offshore debt market this week.

ING Life Insurance Korea launched bookbuilding for its W1.3tr ($1.2bn) IPO on Thursday, in a deal helmed by five firms.

Chinese toll road operator Zhejiang Expressway Co took a road less travelled by Asian companies in the equity-linked market this week. It debuted with a euro-denominated convertible bond, becoming one of just a handful of euro CB issuers from the region in the past decade, writes Jonathan Breen.

Korea South-East Power Co (Kosep) pulled in $300m for its new three year bullet, after competing with more attention grabbing transactions on Wednesday.

China Everbright Greentech (CEG) is drumming up interest for a $500m Hong Kong IPO, with investor meetings starting this week, said bankers on the deal.

Ford Automotive Finance (China) is readying its Rmb3bn ($435m) auto ABS transaction, its first this year and its sixth on the Mainland. But investors hoping for some new features will be disappointed, as the new transaction shares similar features with its last two outings in 2016.

China Petrochemical Corp has bagged the largest G3 bond from a corporate in Asia so far this year, wrapping up a $3.4bn four-tranche transaction on Wednesday, taking advantage of a favourable market window.

Issuers from Greater China, including Yanzhou Coal Mining Company (Yancoal) and Regal Hotels International Holdings, have opened books for new perpetual notes, while China Oil and Gas Group has mandated firms for its return.

Zhejiang Expressway Co is breaking the lull in Asia’s equity-linked market, opening books on Wednesday evening for a €365m ($389m) transaction.

Three senior members of Deutsche Bank’s Asia debt and equities teams have left, with two of them jumping ship to Credit Suisse.