South Asia

A new $300m loan for Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has made market participants sit up and take notice, as the 68bp margin on offer is the lowest for a five year syndicated Indian deal in nearly a decade. While bankers are keen to see the size and sources of demand for the benchmark setting trade, there is wide expectation that the borrower will get away with it. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

UBS’s co-head of global capital markets for Australasia Dane FitzGibbon is leaving the bank, according to sources close to the move.

Credit Suisse has made Ali Naqvi head of its Asia Pacific global markets division, less than a year after the team went through a restructuring.

The strength of the primary debt market in Asia shows no signs of abating, with a number of borrowers heading out on Thursday for fresh dollar fundraisings.

Indian film producer and distributor Eros International is putting together its inaugural dollar-denominated transaction, hiring three firms to work on the bond.

Air India is set for a quick return to the loan market, launching a request for proposals (RFP) for a $250m deal that is divided into a senior and a junior piece.

India’s Avenue Supermarts, the owner of supermarket chain D-Mart, has set the price range for its IPO, which could raise up to Rp18.7bn ($280m), according to a banker on the deal.

Indian non-bank lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp is back in the loan market with a $125m three year refinancing via two leads.

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has opened a $300m five year borrowing into general syndication, offering three levels of participation to incoming lenders.

A subsidiary of Providence Equity Partners has raised Rp12.9bn ($193.3m) by offloading its remaining stake in Indian mobile network operator Idea Cellular, despite contrasting views on the stock posing a challenge to the block sale.

Novelis’s $1.8bn Asian refinancing of its US term loan B has seen four new lenders come in during syndication, as the leads hold out for several more large commitments.

Metals producer Hindalco Industries, a unit of Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, has begun seeking interest for a Rp50bn ($749.5m) qualified institutional placement.