Rubber sinks
Thai rubber planter and processor Sri Trang Agro-Industry said it had postponed its Singapore equity offering and dual listing due to volatility in global markets. The deal had been due to price on September 1. It had offered 280m new shares at S$0.79–$0.90 apiece for a total of up to S$252m (US$187m). DBS was sole bookrunner and underwriter. (See News.)
Unusually busy
The Taiwanese equity market was unusually busy last week with two offerings of GDRs being completed.
RCBC focuses on core
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp has appointed Citigroup as the global coordinator and bookrunner for a proposed capital increase. According to a company official, the company plans to raise equity, details of which are still being worked on. “We plan to raise equity. This is in preparation for stricter capital rules with Basel III. That is the reason why we chose to issue equity, instead of a hybrid or Tier 2 bond issue,” said the company official. The deal is subject to the final approval by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country’s central bank. Under the proposed Basel III framework, there is a greater focus on core capital raising. Earlier in February this year, RCBC had tapped the US dollar bond market through a US$250m Reg S five-year senior unsecured bond.
Steely resolve
Steel Authority of India has shortlisted Deutsche Bank, Enam, HSBC, JP Morgan, Kotak Mahindra and SBI Capital for its follow-on public offer of up to Rs83.2bn (US$1.8bn). It was not clear what fee levels were bid for this mandate, but some bankers said it was more likely “six or seven zeros after the decimal point followed by a 1” in percentage terms of the deal size. Banks operating in India are indeed very charitable.
Piping hot coffee
Singapore-listed instant coffee producer Super Group will raise S$23.6m from its TDR issue after pricing the offering at NT$14 apiece, the top of the NT$11–$14 guidance range. The price is equivalent to S$0.59 per share and is a 4.1% discount to the VWAP of the company’s shares on August 24. It issued 40m TDRs at a ratio of two TDRs to one share. Polaris Securities was manager and underwriter.
Shipping sticker
Shipping Corp of India has mandated ICICI Securities, IDFC Capital and SBI Capital for its IPO of up to US$300m, expected to hit the market later this year. The company is paying fees of about 0.25% on the deal, slightly better than those for recent government divestments.