UBS

Korea Southern Power Co (Kospo) has priced the first public dollar bond from South Korea amid a US government shutdown. But the 144A deal saw little fallout from that. Easing tensions on the Korean peninsula, the quality of its credit and demand for short-dated paper ensured investor interest.

Dalian Wanda Group has mandated banks to start work on a possible IPO of its sports assets, said sources close to the matter.

Westpac raised Swiss franc bonds on Monday, reaffirming the idea that financial institutions are best placed to act opportunistically in the Swiss market this year.

Korea Southern Power Co (Kospo) is returning to the offshore dollar bond market after almost five years, becoming the first issuer from the country to tap international investors in 2018.

Geely Automobile Holdings opted for price over size with its new bond, landing aggressively at the middle of the final guidance range. The tactic meant the private company funded at or even inside the levels of some similarly or higher rated state-owned enterprises (SOE).

Chinese issuers Jinjiang International Holding, China South City Holding, Guangxi Communications Investment Group Corp and Tianjin Real Estate Group Co tapped the market for euro and dollar bonds on a busy Thursday.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co’s board of directors has given the go-ahead for a rights issue that could raise up to Ps60bn ($1.18bn), according to an exchange filing on Thursday.

German property firm Aroundtown became the first issuer from its sector to raise Swiss franc debt not driven by reverse enquiry.

Leveraged loans have dominated leveraged buyout financing in recent months, but high yield bonds could be poised for a comeback, say European investors. Crown Holdings, the US can maker, added to early signs of optimism with its new €1.5bn cross-border bond offering this week, writes Victor Jimenez.

Reverse enquiries led to two large share sales over the last week, with one of the blocks executed as a pure club transaction without the need for an accelerated bookbuild at all.

Alfa-Bank will be the first Russian privately owned bank to test demand for additional tier one (AT1) securities since the write-down of capital bonds from Otkritie and Promsvyazbank.

Sunny Optical Technology (Group) Company’s $600m bond debut tightened 15bp in the secondary market on its first day of trading, a clear sign of the rampant demand for technology credits. But despite the eye-catching tightening, even rival bankers thought the pricing was spot-on. Addison Gong reports.