South Korea

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are taking a knife to their Asian investment banking operations amid slower capital markets activity and as competition from Chinese lenders intensifies. This is just the latest in a series of culls in Asia as global banks struggle to find a suitable model. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

Construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat and Netmarble Games are on track with their respective IPOs, with the former set to become the largest listing in South Korea since 2012.

Divergent pricing expectations between Korean Air Lines (KAL) and investors forced the issuer to pull its hybrid bond on Tuesday evening after a two-day syndication process. The cancellation has dashed hopes of a comeback in high yield issuance from South Korea as the single-B rated trade was slated to be the first since September 2010. Addison Gong reports.

Construction equipment maker Doosan Bobcat has thrown open the doors on its W2.4tr ($2.2bn) IPO, the largest listing in South Korea since 2010.

In this round-up, Chinese regulators have further delayed any expansion of the qualified domestic institutional investor, Vanguard has completed its transition to a FTSE index that includes A-shares, and Malaysia’s new payment system adds support for RMB debt securities. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s coverage this week.

Korea Housing Finance Corp and Cariparma Crédit Agricole have hired lead managers to arrange investor meetings, with a view to issuing covered bonds in dollars and euros, respectively.

South Korea’s Woori Bank printed a $500m Basel III additional tier one on Tuesday off the back of a modest $850m order book. The notes struggled a little in secondary the following day before rebounding on Thursday, putting the focus on the transaction’s pricing and timing, writes Addison Gong.

Korea Housing Finance Corp and Cariparma Crédit Agricole have hired lead managers to arrange investor meetings, with a view to issuing covered bonds in dollars and euros, respectively.

South Korea’s IPO market is on track for a surge of issuance, as Doosan Bobcat and Samsung BioLogics prepare to list in the fourth quarter. Mid-caps are also lining up to float, giving a fillip to the country’s equity capital markets. Jonathan Breen reports.

South Korea’s Woori Bank printed a $500m Basel III additional tier one offering on Tuesday off the back of a modest $850m order book. Although the notes sold off a little bit in secondary, bankers on the deal reckon the issuer got away with a decent outcome ahead of expected market volatility.

Chinese rubber and plastics producer Great Rich Technologies is preparing to float in South Korea for as much as W101.3bn ($90.8m), according to a filing with the Korean market regulator.

Woori Bank has set sights on its second dollar-denominated Basel III additional tier one bond, opening books on Tuesday morning. It will be the first South Korean lender to test the bank capital market following a recent rule change on AT1 instruments.