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A Shenzhen battery manufacturer has set a new record in China's H-share markets. BYD, the country's largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries, raised the equivalent of US$209 million including a greenshoe – certainly not the largest H-share issue ever, but easily the largest from a privately-owned company.

Singapore REIT market not ready to play Aussie rules

Shaikh Nizam Yaquby is a Shari'ah scholar, a holy man – and one of the most important people in the fledgling industry of Islamic banking. Why? Because he is one of a handful of people who can judge the Shari'ah compliance of financial instruments.

Last month we printed an interview with Dorodjatun Kuntoro-Jakti, Indonesia's co-ordinating minister covering finance and the economy, who had just signed an agreement with the IMF to extend its involvement in Indonesia to 2003. But Dorodjatun's views are not shared by all in his party, and in particular one of his predecessors, minister of state for national development planning Kwik Kian Gie. In this excerpt from a recent address, he states his case against further involvement with the IMF. He didn't get his way, but his views make interesting reading.

With new scandals and financial troubles announced almost daily, it is no wonder that the secondary market for distressed bank loans has been a hotbed of activity over the past few weeks. And so far, this week has been no exception as the paper of Qwest Communications and Crown Cork & Seal are rumored to have changed hands.

Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs' refinancing credit for PETCO Animal Supplies is fully subscribed with the $193 million "B" term loan taken out with a new "C" loan. The new deal cuts the interest spread from LIBOR plus 3 1/2% to LIBOR plus 3%, while PETCO is also paying a 15 basis points fee for a capital expenditure amendment, said a banker. The refinancing trend is slowing but this deal could have been done 25 basis points tighter a few weeks ago, explained the banker. Since the original loan was set last fall, the leverage as measured by debt to EBITDA has gone from 1.5 times for the senior and 3 times total to 1.4 times senior and 2.6 total. The company went public in the first quarter of this year and repurchased $30 million of senior subordinated notes with some of the proceeds.

Lehman Brothers has flexed the refinancing credit for Regal Cinemas 1/4% after trying to get through the market with a LIBOR plus 2 1/2% deal that also attempted to ease covenants. "Lehman went out at 250 over, but had to flex upwards to 275," said an investor, who estimates the market has backed up from anywhere between 1/4% and 3/8% in the last two weeks. But Regal still gained a 3/4% interest spread cut, though the intention was for a 1% drop, said a banker, who noted the credit is now fully subscribed. As well as the lowered spread, the relaxed covenants on Regal disheartened some existing investors. One buysider noted that though he would not join in the credit for the above reasons, there would be plenty that still would.

BNP Paribas and Bank of America have pushed back by more than a week the deadline for commitments on Iasis Healthcare as market conditions turn. But the $463 million refinancing is still on track and has not been postponed or cancelled, according to Carl Whitmer, executive v.p. and cfo, who said, "It has been a difficult market over the last couple of weeks, but with the growth of investors in bank debt that need access to quarterly results, we wanted to wait for the results to come out." The due date for commitments is now Aug. 9 and third quarter results are announced August 1.

The soon-to-be launched Good Morning Shinhan Securities has lured Hong Shik Kim, head of Korean equity derivatives marketing at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, in a new role as managing director and head of fixed-income and proprietary trading in Seoul, according to Sean Chung, investor relations at Good Morning Securities. "The official launch date for the new company is Aug. 1," said Chung, explaining that Good Morning is merging with Shinhan Securities.

Barclays Global Investors Australia, with AUD17 billion (USD9.15 billion) under management, is examining using credit-default swaps for the first time for its AUD2 billion fixed-income portfolio. "We're building up our knowledge of the product," said Mark Nordio, head of fixed-income in Sydney. The firm is in the initial phases of studying credit-default swaps and will not make a decision whether to use the product until it has more information. However, if it does decide to pull the trigger it will likely take 12-months before it enters its first trade, said Nordio.

Emmanuel Dianflon, Asian head of credit derivatives at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, recently relocated to Paris where he is in discussions to assume a role within the fixed-income group. "Emmanuel has been repatriated to Paris at his request," said Brian Lazell, Asia-Pacific head of credit markets at BNP in Hong Kong, adding that Dianflon is in discussions with management over a new role in Paris. Dianflon is said to have built the French bank's credit derivatives operation in non-Japan Asia, according to market officials. Earlier this year Lazell moved to the Hong Kong desk from London, where he was global head of emerging markets.

TransAlta Corp., a Canadian energy company with more than USD7 billion in assets, has entered a handful of interest-rate swaps on the back of a recent bond deal to convert a fixed-rate obligation into a mix of fixed and floating-rate liabilities. An official in the treasury department in Calgary said the company entered four separate swaps totaling USD125 million in which it will receive the fixed-rate bond coupon of 6.75% and pay four separate unspecified floating rates. He said the swaps allow the company to evenly split the USD300 million deal into fixed and floating-rate liabilities.