South Korea

In this round-up, Moscow Exchange sees fall in both spot and swap trading, South Korea deposits drop for sixth consecutive month, and the Swiss franc is now directly convertible with the onshore RMB. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

The Asia ex-Japan bond market sprung to life on November 12 with China Huarong Asset Management, China State Construction Engineering Corp and Beijing Properties opening books for dollar bonds, while Korea Housing Finance Corp (KHFC) opted for a covered bond and Malaysia’s Axiata Group, a sukuk.

ARA Asset Management is looking to raise around S$152m ($107m) from an 18-for-100 rights issue, as the firm looks for more flexibility to meet its funding needs.

Korean Air Lines is getting ready to hit the offshore bond market, having hired a bank and secured a guarantee from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) for a hybrid deal.

Korea’s Asiana Airlines has swooped into the syndicated loan market for a $150m deal, picking two banks to run it.

In a departure from recent tactics, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) launched its most recent bond with a generous price guidance. But the gamble paid off as the borrower attracted a record order book and got away with paying only a small concession.

Standard Chartered has been given the nod for its debut Panda bond issuance from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). The deal is expected to take place quite soon, two sources with knowledge of the trade told GlobalRMB.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) timed its first outing to the offshore bond market after a sovereign rating upgrade perfectly. This time around, the Korean policy bank kept money on the table to woo US investors rather than relying on strong onshore demand to be aggressive with pricing.

The Republic of Korea is likely to be dipping into the Panda bond market for its first renminbi-denominated trade, after the Chinese central bank gave the deal its blessing over the weekend.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) is testing investors’ appetite for a dollar bond, its first since receiving a credit boost from Standard & Poor’s in September.

Korea Housing Finance Corp is gearing up to issue its first covered bond in more than two years and is set to meet investors from next week.

South Korea’s Jeju Air has priced its IPO above the range provided during bookbuilding after nearly 750 investors signed up for the deal.