South Asia

The Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) dealt a fresh blow to India’s National Stock Exchange’s long-delayed IPO plans this week.

Sterling and Wilson Solar, the solar power business of Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group, is eyeing a listing of up to Rp45bn ($648m), having filed a draft prospectus this week.

Shriram Transport Finance Co turned to US investors on Monday to help seal a $500m high yield bond, just weeks after selling a $400m Reg S trade.

Indian metals and mining company Vedanta Resources courted the market on Thursday for its first bond since delisting from the London Stock Exchange late last year. While the delisting raised some questions for investors, the deal ultimately pulled in $1bn for the issuer.

Investor orders surged for Polycab India’s $194m IPO this week, allowing the transaction to close with an order book nearly 52 times subscribed.

Highly structured bonds backed by loans to airlines in which Abu Dhabi state airline Etihad holds a stake suffered another blow on Monday, as Jet Airways became the third obligation backing the bonds to default. Debt to Alitalia and Air Berlin, also affiliates of Etihad, already defaulted in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Arrangers of Reliance Industries’ debut Schuldschein have sent investors a statement saying that demand “considerably exceeds the initial volume” target of €150m. The success of the transaction came as a surprise to some of the arrangers’ competitors, but is considered a good sign for the market.

IndusInd Bank, the privately owned Indian lender, priced its inaugural dollar bond on Monday after a careful approach by bookrunners led to a sale that was priced tighter than some investors demanded but kept on tightening in the secondary market.

Reliance Industries is tapping the Japanese yen market as part of a $1.5bn dual-currency loan syndication.

Metropolis Healthcare wrapped up book building for a Rp12bn ($174m) IPO on Friday on the back of an order book that was 5.8 times subscribed.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport sold its second dollar bond this week with both the size of the transaction and the pricing falling below expectations.

Pakistan’s Hub Power Co (Hubco) has launched a rights issue to fund an increase of its stake in the local subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned power company.