Southeast Asia

French investment bank Natixis has promoted one of its own to helm private bank and family office coverage for the region.

In this round-up, China’s benchmark CSI300 index saw its biggest daily rise in three years after trade negotiations and deleveraging boosted investor sentiment, service imports and exports rose in 2018 and a Bloomberg survey indicated Hong Kong and Singapore investors are optimistic on Chinese onshore bonds.

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) has launched the first catastrophe bond out of Singapore, as the Lion City seeks to become a hub for insurance-linked securities (ILS) by offering grants to issuers.

Ecom Agroindustrial Asia, the Singaporean business entity under Swiss commodities trader Ecom, has returned to the international loan market for its annual borrowing.

Far East Horizon and Asian Development Bank added a bit of life to the dim sum bond market in February, raising Rmb740m ($110.4m) between them. Bankers think looming maturities could give them more business this year.

Philippine oil company Petron Corp has returned to the offshore loan market after a two year absence, picking a bigger lead group that has allowed it to achieve much tighter pricing.

BNP Paribas has made Mrinal Parekh its new head of equity capital markets for southeast Asia and India, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Taiwanese banks are turning to southeast Asia to diversify their loan books, as they find it harder to get credit approval for loans to mainland China. But they are still getting used to the market — and some complain that pricing remains unpredictable. Pan Yue reports.

Singapore Power, a government owned electricity and gas distributor, grabbed investor attention on Wednesday and raised $600m from a rare trip to the international bond market.

Malaysia-based firm Top Glove Labuan tapped the equity-linked market for the first time on Wednesday, raising $200m after printing a five year non-call three exchangeable bond.

An investor protection deal between the EU and Singapore, approved by the European Parliament last week, would make sovereign debt restructurings harder for governments to manage, according to industry observers.

Home Credit Vietnam has launched an up to $60m loan into general syndication after two year absence.