South Korea

Two Hyundai-related units cleared out of their holdings in Hyundai Motor Co for W226.14bn ($192.9m) on Wednesday, in an accelerated bookbuild that priced close to the bottom of guidance.

South Korea’s Small & Medium Business Corp (SBC) is looking to make an appearance in the offshore bond market for the first time in a decade.

Two vendors within the Hyundai group of companies are looking to exit their holdings in Hyundai Motor Co via a W230bn ($195m) overnight block trade.

HSBC and Bank of China were among the first banks to act as market makers for the newly established direct trading of the Korean won and the RMB this week, just as a first batch of offshore-based banks got approval from Chinese authorities to access the onshore currency markets.

The South Korean government is looking to list six power generation subsidiaries of Korea Electric Power Corp from 2017.

In this round-up, South Korea’s RMB deposits drop to near-zero, South African rand starts direct trading with RMB, and BlackRock launches its first US-listed physical A-shares fund. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s coverage this week.

Asia’s bond markets have remained resilient despite a Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week and rising concerns about the UK referendum on European Union membership. With deal flow building up for next week, bankers said Asian issuers stand to benefit from volatility in Europe, writes Narae Kim.

Hotel Lotte’s IPO could yet go live by the end of 2016 despite being postponed on Monday after prosecutors raided the offices of Lotte Group, according to a statement from the parent.

CIMB has made 16 people redundant in investment banking and equities, the second time the Malaysian lender has cut regional jobs this year amid a slump in deal flow.

South Korea’s financial authorities announced a new set of capital-control regulations in a bid to provide its financial system with a better buffer against external shocks.

Hotel Lotte could yet give a boost to South Korea’s equity capital markets by going live with its IPO by the end of 2016, announcing the possibility just days after it postponed its transaction.

South Korea’s Woori Bank is expected to bring a dollar-denominated Basel III additional tier one bond to the market as early as September after its plans were abruptly put on hold in April due to a proposed changes in rules.