Southeast Asia

Temasek Holdings made a splash in the block market this week, raising W1.07tr ($1bn) with a pair of overnight trades in South Korean pharmaceutical company Celltrion and its distribution arm Celltrion Healthcare — an approach that was in line with the Singapore sovereign wealth fund’s strategy to rebalance its portfolio. Jonathan Breen reports.

Chinese outlet mall trust Sasseur Reit has kicked off a fixed price bookbuilding for its S$396m ($301.3m) Singapore IPO, placing nearly half the deal with cornerstone investors.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp issued a five year sterling floating rate bond on Wednesday but was unable to match the size or spread of United Overseas Bank, which recently issued the first Singaporean covered bond in sterling.

Philippine property developer DM Wenceslao & Associates has laid the groundwork for an IPO of up to Ps15.6bn ($300m), filing a draft prospectus on Tuesday.

Société Générale has promoted Raj Malhotra to the position of head of debt capital markets for Asia Pacific, according to a press release on Wednesday.

Dublin, Ireland-based Fly Leasing plans to raise a $1.3bn loan to acquire aircraft assets from budget carrier AirAsia.

Derivatives exchanges around the world reported strong February volumes this week, potentially painting a rosy picture for the year ahead as markets seem set to return to higher volatility.

Bank of Ireland is planning to bring the first covered bond from Ireland in over two years, while Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation is lining up a debut trade in sterling.

Philippines’ Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co is preparing to launch a Ps60bn ($1.2bn) rights issue at the end of March after getting the nod from the country’s stock exchange.

Vietnam’s state-owned VietinBank bagged commitments from 12 banks for its $100m loan during general syndication, with lenders from Europe, China and India jumping on-board.

Bangladesh's independent power producer Summit Power launched pre-marketing this week for a ground-breaking Singapore IPO. It will be only the second international listing by a Bangladeshi company.

Singaporean issuers in the dollar market are rare enough for investors, but those with a guarantee from the triple-A rated government are ever more unusual. Clifford Capital made the most of that rarity value this week, raising $300m from a government-guaranteed deal.