Southeast Asia

Small southeast Asian borrowers are coming to the market in force, signalling a shift from the conglomerates that traditionally tap the market. The supply is offering much-needed relief to lenders, who are seeing margins squeezed elsewhere. Pan Yue reports.

Indonesia’s Barito Pacific has returned to the loan market for an up to $200m refinancing, hiring two banks to run the deal.

Marlow Foods, a UK-based company that was acquired by the Philippines’ Monde Nissin Corp in 2015, is tapping the Asian loan market for the first time for ‎£120m ($156m).

Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) has mandated seven banks for a chunky $2.85bn bridge loan to support its acquisition of Freeport Indonesia, a mining company.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia has mandated 13 banks for a $700m multi-tranche borrowing, breaking a three-year absence from the loan syndications market.

The Malaysian government is hoping to raise MR4bn ($959m) by selling a 30% stake in a planned airport real estate investment trust.

In this round-up, MSCI proposes plans to increase four-fold the weighting of A-shares in its emerging markets (EM) index, China and the Philippines are launching a peso and renminbi trading platform next month, and weaker external demand drags down China's PMIs.

Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (CEReit) is looking to raise €224.1m through a rights issue to fund acquisitions of commercial properties and offices.

A flexible approach allowed Shangri-La Hotel to tap into the Singapore dollar bond market on Thursday for S$825m, a rare outing that helped it stave off pressing loan liabilities.

Indonesia’s Pertamina made a quick comeback to the debt market on Wednesday, selling a 30 year bond just days after terminating a tender offer.

Sujata Bhattacharjee has returned to BNP Paribas’ loans team after a short stint at Indian investment firm 1Crowd.

Lao Viet Joint Venture Bank is seeking its first international loan of up to $100m through sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner Cathay United Bank.