Singapore

BNP Paribas has hired an associate for its southeast Asia loans team, GlobalCapital Asia understands.

Jude Krishnan, an associate director of ECM with RHB Securities Singapore, a unit of Malaysia’s RHB Banking Group, is no longer with the firm.

The Singapore IPO market finally has something to look forward to, after a quiet year to date, thanks to Jiangxi Jiangling Chassis, which filed its preliminary prospectus on August 12.

The departure of a key southeast Asia banker from a global firm has thrust the region back into the spotlight, with banks battening down the hatches in expectation of a prolonged slump. Recruiters foresee another purge in jobs before the year is out, writes John Loh.

Louis Dreyfus Commodities Asia has sealed its $400m three year revolver, with a group of 38 banks. The loan, which was signed at the end of July, attracted mostly the company’s relationship banks, said a banker at one of the leads.

DBS managed to surprise much of the market last week when it picked dollars for the first covered bond issue out of Singapore. If the Lion City is serious about establishing a covered bond market, euros need to be the currency of choice.

Westpac Banking Corp has completed a swift, efficient foray into the Singapore dollar market, printing Basel III tier two notes on August 4. Demand was such that the borrower was able to price the bond by late afternoon and still manage to meet its pricing and diversification goals.

ICBC has established the first round-the-clock RMB clearing facility in its Singapore branch, the bank said in an August 4 statement.

Deutsche Bank’s head of investment banking advisory and coverage for southeast Asia, Parvati Banati, has exited the German lender, according to sources.

Singapore-listed Frasers Centrepoint (FCL), which raised a £300m ($468.5m) five year loan from Barclays, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered to fund the acquisition of boutique hotel chain Malmaison Hotel du Vin, has opened the loan into wider syndication.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has launched evaluated bond prices (EBP) on its website, which will provide market participants with secondary prices for SGX-listed bonds.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has made its Singapore and Hong Kong bond teams redundant as it continues to carry out a restructuring that will substantially reduce its presence in Asia.