Northeast Asia

Taiwan life insurers are addicted to long dated callable private placements. But what was once a beneficial habit, is no longer offering juicy returns. As yields continue to slide, the Taiwanese MTN market is having to adapt to the changing environment, writes Jonathan Breen.

Renminbi bonds in Taiwan had a spectacular run for most of last year. But a new age of renminbi volatility combined with weaker regulatory momentum has put the market on hold in 2016. Nevertheless market participants agree that the renminbi promise remains an enticing one. Paolo Danese reports.

Hong Kong-headquartered conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings is readying a global sweep of debt markets to raise refinancing funds, announcing on Wednesday morning that it intends to sell a euro-denominated eight year senior unsecured bond just hours after announcing a dollar trade in Hong Kong.

Divergent pricing expectations between Korean Air Lines (KAL) and investors forced the issuer to pull its hybrid bond on Tuesday evening after a two-day syndication process. The cancellation has dashed hopes of a comeback in high yield issuance from South Korea as the single-B rated trade was slated to be the first since September 2010. Addison Gong reports.

A loans distribution banker has joined the syndicated finance team of DBS in Hong Kong.

International investment banks are taking a knife to their Asian operations amid slower capital markets activity, even as competition from Chinese lenders intensifies.

Fantasia Holdings Group returned to the bond market on Tuesday, taking advantage of the low yield environment to lock in cheaper funds while improving its debt maturity profile.

Commitments have rushed in for separate borrowings by two Hong Kong real estate investment trusts, despite their syndication deadlines being still some time away.

Investors welcomed Chinese local government financing vehicle Jinan West City Investment and Development Group to the G3 market on Tuesday, enabling the debut issuer to net $300m off the back of $1.3bn of demand.

CK Hutchison Holdings is seeking fresh funds to refinance debt, and is eyeing a dual-tranche dollar bond with five and 10 year tenors.

All eyes are on the renminbi this week with the currency set to officially enter the IMF’s special drawing rights (SDR) basket on Saturday. But what does that mean and why should you care? Here’s GlobalRMB’s quick guide to all you need to know.

At the beginning of 2016, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) followed Europe’s central bank and took a dive into the world of negative interest rates. Bond yields have since tumbled and investors and regular borrowers in Japan’s domestic market have been forced to adapt to the new, alien environment. Though Samurai issuance volumes are down in the first half of the year, the world’s second largest bond market is evolving quickly and has proven itself to be both flexible and dynamic. GlobalCapital spoke to seven prominent international yen issuers and two banks about their experiences in the Samurai market this year.