Reg S: Will a rate fixing scandal make Reg change his ways?

South-East Asia’s first simultaneous two-city listing is emerging as a Malaysian-dominated affair. IHH Healthcare last week covered the books for its M$6.4bn (US$2bn) dual listing in Malaysia and Singapore within the first day of bookbuilding. While the deal introduces a new structure to the region’s IPO markets, early orders are heavily skewed towards Malaysia. All 22 cornerstone investors have chosen to participate in the Malaysian tranche, which is expected to be more liquid. Cornerstones in Malaysian IPOs are subject to lock-up periods,...

Source: Reuters A man walks past OCBC bank in Singapore’s central business district A trio of bank capital deals last week showed that Asian investors are again ready to embrace new issues from the financial sector. Asian buyers swarmed over Lower Tier 2 bonds from Standard Chartered and United Overseas Bank, while OCBC Bank priced a S$1bn (US$788m) Tier 1 deal that marks its first Singapore-dollar fundraising since 2008. The three are staying in step with a global rally in bank bond spreads that has rekindled investors’ appetite for...

Source: Reuters/Pascal Lauener BMW luxury car logos are pictured in a spare part store at a BMW garage in Niderwangen near Bern Credit Suisse is restoring China ZhengTong Auto Services Holdings’ debt market profile with a short-dated, generously priced loan. The move is intended to erase memories of the Hong-Kong-listed auto-dealer’s failed bond sale earlier this year. The loan for the company, which has ratings of Ba3 from Moody’s and BB– from S&P, has been priced to sell as it pays an average margin of around 750bp and 825bp–875bp on an...

Source: Reuters/Crack Palinggi A man walks in front of the Bakrie Tower, owned by PT Bakrieland Development, at Jakarta’s business district Coalminer Bumi Resources is in negotiations over the repayment of a US$231m loan it is owed by investment company Recapital Asset Management, according to a filing with the London Stock Exchange. Bumi Resources is the crown jewel of Indonesia’s influential Bakrie family. Recapital, which had been expected to make an early repayment in the first half of 2012, has until August 27 to meet the obligation....

The Export-Import Bank of Korea is looking to sell bonds in the Philippines’ local market, potentially making it the first foreign issuer to price a peso deal since the Asian Development Bank in 2005. A funding official at Kexim said the bank had started studying the peso market as part of a strategy to extend its global funding sources, noting that there is a chance it will eventually tap peso investors. Any issue will depend on the arbitrage opportunity of pricing a peso versus a US-dollar bond. A deal will have to rely heavily on the US...

Korea National Oil Corp looks set to become the first non-financial company from Asia to issue Kangaroo bonds, after an Australian investor roadshow last week. A debut Kangaroo will be a rare corporate bond in the bank-dominated Australian-dollar market. It comes after financial issuers Korea Finance Corp and Industrial Bank of Korea opened the Kangaroo market for Korean borrowers earlier this year. Any deal will depend on market conditions. However, A1/A rated KNOC must also weigh the diversity benefits from an Aussie-dollar transaction...

Source: Reuters/Truth Leem A pedestrian walks past a branch office of Shinhan Bank in central Seoul South Korean issuers are taking full advantage of waning appetite for European credit with a string of Samurai bonds. Shinhan Bank last week kicked off a quartet of Korean debt sales in Japan, appealing to investors looking for alternatives as they scale back exposure to European assets and Western financials. Shinhan’s popular ¥35bn (US$439m) debut is the latest sign of growing demand for Korean risk, and comes as three other commercial banks...

Source: Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak and other party leaders of the country’s ruling United Malays National Organisation shout slogans during its 66th anniversary celebrations in Kuala Lumpur Fresh from completing a controversial private bond, state-owned 1Malaysia Development is inviting banks to join a M$6.17bn (US$1.95bn) 18-month acquisition loan. Maybank and RHB Bank fully funded the bridge loan for 1MDB Energy, backing the acquisition of power-generation firm Tanjong Energy Holdings from billionaire Ananda...

Two state-owned banks surged in the first half of this year to be two of the top three bookrunners of syndicated loans in Asia, excluding Japan and Australasia. China Development Bank jumped 56 places in six months to become the region’s second busiest bookrunner of loans in any currency as its market share rose to 7.3% with US$5.6bn of deals, according to Thomson Reuters data. The Chinese lender ranks second only to State Bank of India, which continued to top the tables for syndicated lending in Asia Pacific. SBI, which dominates rupee loans...

Hong Kong’s market watchdog has again called for better disclosure from companies looking to list in the city. In a newsletter reviewing the year ended March 2012, the Securities and Futures Commission said last Wednesday that sub-standard or incomplete listing application materials remained a problem. “It is to the benefit of both investors and applicants that listing application materials are prepared with due care and skill and that they are submitted only after applicants and their advisers have taken reasonable steps to ensure accuracy,...

State-owned Dana Infra held a roadshow last Tuesday for its much-anticipated government-guaranteed sukuk issue. Proceeds of the issue will fund the construction of Kuala Lumpur’s mass rapid transit project. The timing of a launch of bookbuilding will depend on the interest from the investors during the lunchtime meeting. Dana is said to be looking at raising between M$2bn–$3bn from a M$8bn (US$253.4m) Islamic programme, which has a full guarantee from the federal government. Bankers reckon that Dana Infra will pay spreads of between high 20bp...

In a bumper year so far for international bond sales from Asia, Standard Chartered is racing up the league standings. At the end of the first half, the emerging markets lender had jumped to third place in the Thomson Reuters league table of bookrunners in Asia, excluding Japan and Australasia, from 12th this time last year. StanChart, one of the biggest corporate lenders in the region, set its sights three years ago to top the table as it embarked on a hiring spree to build up its origination and distribution teams. In 2011, it finished in...