Oceania

In this round up, Eastspring Investment Management can now offer onshore investment products to Chinese customers, SWIFT Business Intelligence outlines Australia’s role in renminbi internationalisation, and Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) gets approval from the European central Bank to set up a subsidiary in Austria.

An A$500m ($355m) Kangaroo bond from the Export-Import Bank of Korea on Tuesday reaffirmed Australian dollar investors’ appetite for high quality credits from South Korea, amid a fall in global issuance volume in the currency this year.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG) is keeping a close tab on the Kangaroo bond market, following the sale of a curve-extending euro bond this week that is likely to complete the issuer’s benchmark funding for 2018.

Korea Development Bank hopped into the Australian dollar market on October 12, selling an A$400m ($284m) Kangaroo bond. Despite the volatility in the market earlier in the week, KDB had little trouble sealing the popular deal.

A dearth of corporate bond supply on Wednesday, due to a German public holiday, was followed by deals from airport operators in two markets on Thursday. Aéroports de Paris (AdP) opted for the domestic route, while Heathrow made its first visit to the Australian market.

Papua New Guinea’s dollar bond sale last week was a landmark for the sovereign, which had toyed with the idea of an issuance for more than a decade. But while PNG deserves praise, its success does not reflect a victory for emerging markets.

The Independent State of Papua New Guinea made its much anticipated debut in the international debt market on Thursday, selling a $500m bond after years of flirting with investors.

Philippine food and beverage producer and distributor Universal Robina Corp is gauging appetite among banks for a NZ$420m ($278m) loan to refinance an old borrowing used to back the acquisition of New Zealand’s Griffin’s Foods.

JP Morgan has begun an agency clearing service for Australian and New Zealand dollar denominated over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, becoming the first OTC clearing participant on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to do so.

Two €500m deals issued by Commerzbank and ASB Finance went well enough. The New Zealand deal attracted new investors and hit the issuer’s funding target. However, Commerzbank was unable to tighten pricing by much, underscoring the impression that market sentiment had deteriorated slightly.

Kate Birchall, the former head of portfolio optimisation and collateral at National Australia Bank, has been chosen by LCH to lead the Asia Pacific operations of its London-based clearing house LCH Limited.

CLSA has made two senior appointments to its fixed income and debt capital markets teams in Asia Pacific.