South Korea

The vast majority of payments from South Korea to China and Hong Kong are now processed in RMB, Swift said in its latest RMB Tracker report issued on September 1. A day earlier, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) said it had added three new Seoul-based institutional investors to the RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) programme in August, with 60% of the Rmb80bn ($12.4bn) country quota now distributed.

A large financing for the acquisition of Tesco’s South Korean asset, Homeplus, has created a stir in the market, coming amid a dearth of private equity-backed leveraged deals in Asia. But the role of foreign banks may be limited by abundant onshore liquidity and the presence of domestic funds, which are keen to take on junior debt, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) is eyeing the dollar bond market for the second time this year, and has sent out a request for proposals to banks.

Financing for three rival bids to acquire Tesco’s South Korean asset Homeplus feature a senior-junior split, according to market sources. One of the contenders is also said to have secured a letter of commitment from a local pension fund, considered unusual as such funds usually throw their weight behind bidders once they have emerged as the winner.

Green bond issuance in Asia has taken off this year after sluggish growth in the past, according to data by Dealogic.

Samsung Bioepis, the pharmaceutical arm of Korea’s Samsung Group, is planning a highly-anticipated IPO on the Nasdaq in 2016, and has dished out mandates for the listing to four banks.

Lotte Group has kicked off the first phase of listing its hotel arm on the South Korean stock exchange, sending out a request for proposals to banks on August 19.

In this round-up, China's cross border RMB trade settlement falls in July, Seoul plans to launch RMB/Won futures in October, Moscow Exchange sees growing CNY/Rouble spot and swaps turnover, China's central bank issued its yearly financial stability report, and the UK's foreign secretary said during a visit to China that London would keep supporting RMB internationalisation initiatives.

A pair of Korean policy banks have shown their savviness by opting for single tranche offshore renminbi trade bonds dual-listed as a dim sum and Formosa bond. Strong international credits should take this fairly new structure more seriously if they are looking for opportunities to save costs and secure new investor bases at the same time.

Korea South-East Power (Kosep) is set to make its first outing to the offshore bond market ahead of the redemption of an outstanding dollar bond in May 2016.

Weapons manufacturer LIG Nex1 has released indicative pricing for its upcoming IPO next month. Even if pricing comes at the bottom, the transaction will still take the title of the largest Korean IPO of the year.

Korea Development Bank has opened books for an offshore renminbi offering that will be dual listed in Singapore and Taipei, marking the first such deal for the issuer and only the third one ever from a South Korean name.