South Korea

South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co brought its maiden dollar bond to the market on Tuesday, appealing to investors with its strong credentials and scarcity value.

Hyosung Vina Chemicals is holding bank presentations and a site visit at the end of January to woo lenders with a $750m syndicated financing that has been relaunched with a smaller size, higher margins and a different bookrunning team.

Investors flocked to Korea Midland Power Co’s (Komipo) green bond on Monday, funnelling $3bn of orders into a $300m deal that offered a quality credit and an attractive tenor to the buy side.

South Korea’s third largest life insurer, Kyobo Life Insurance, has lined up three firms to lead its IPO, according to a source working on the deal.

Asian issuers are setting the stage for their fundraisings nice and early into the New Year, with South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co announcing a bond mandate on Wednesday morning.

As central banks retreat from public markets, spreads are widening in dollars and euros, and cross-currency basis swaps are improving for international borrowers, Swiss bankers believe the good times might be returning to a market once known the world over for diversification and arbitrage.

Samsung BioLogics resumed trading on Tuesday after its stock was suspended for almost a month, according to an announcement by South Korea’s stock exchange.

Kookmin Bank has issued the second Korean covered bond of this year but the first in dollars and its first in more than two years.

Doosan Bobcat’s largest shareholder has bagged W141.9bn ($126.5m) after trimming its stake in the South Korean heavy equipment maker.

Investors flocked to the Export-Import Bank of Korea’s (Kexim) $1bn bond on Monday, viewing the policy bank as a defensive credit to park their cash in.

A flurry of Asian bond issuers have ventured out in a bid to wrap up deals ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US on Thursday, even as markets remain on shaky ground.

South Korea’s financial regulator has brought the hammer down on Samsung BioLogics, accusing it of intentionally overvaluing a subsidiary ahead of its W2.25tr ($2bn) IPO in late 2016.