Standard Chartered

African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) signed a $872m loan this week at its lowest margin for a two year syndicated deal, according to two bankers on the deal. The borrower also increased the deal size from $600m in syndication.

South Korea's Shinhan Bank opened books to its second dollar tier two deal of the year Wednesday morning.

Standard Chartered has outlined the next stage in its plans to cut costs and reorganise the bank in a recent memo to staff. The strategy puts relationship managers at the centre of the corporate banking team under Paul Skelton, who starts at the bank in December, but the changes are expected to lead to job cuts.

The launch of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect is an exciting development but of more importance is whether this further opening up of China’s capital account increases the odds of A-shares making it into the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, according to market participants.

The most recent loan refinancings for Turkish banks Garanti and QNB Finansbank were seen trading at a higher level than previous newly issued Turkish bank loans, showing how concerns for the weakening lira has driven up pricing.

An A$500m ($380m) five year facility to support Philippine company Universal Robina Corp’s (URC) acquisition of Snack Brands Australia has attracted commitments from about 15 banks.

Ajay Kanwal has resigned from Standard Chartered and stepped down as regional CEO, ASEAN and south Asia, with immediate effect, the bank said.

Saudi Arabia’s International Co for Water and Power Projects (ACWA Power) is lining up the first corporate bond from the country since the sovereign’s $17.5bn debt sale in October. But ACWA’s “complicated” bond has left some investors perplexed and planning to sit out the trade. However, the bookrunners say there are decent anchor orders to support the book nonetheless, writes Virginia Furness.

Tsinghua Unigroup made its debut in the loan market with a $300m facility this week. The early signs for the deal are positive, thanks to the sector’s sunny outlook. More business from Chinese firms in the IT equipment industry is expected as they need capital to cater to the growing demand for their products and for investments overseas. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

Ping An Real Estate raised $300m in its debut deal, relying on the security of anchor investors before opening its trade on Tuesday morning.

Malaysia’s Public Bank is returning to the loan market for a $500m five year deal via sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner Standard Chartered.

Indonesia’s Mega Central Finance and Mega Auto Finance are jointly seeking a $75m fundraising, which opened into general syndication on Tuesday.