Structured Finance Issue

Asian issuers faced a year of mixed fortunes in the international bond markets in 2015, as near-perfect conditions gave way to months of uncertainty over the Greek debt crisis and China’s stock-market crash. Through the ups and downs, Citigroup was a constant presence on the most significant international deals from Asia, and the only top house to make it through IFR’s review period without a failed G3 deal to its name. Citigroup’s lean team of debt capital markets specialists did more than their fair share to develop the Asian bond markets,...

Alibaba Group’s US$8bn blockbuster debut in the bond markets rewrote the playbook for Asia’s top issuers. As well as smashing the record as the region’s biggest international bonds, the move put the Chinese e-commerce giant on a par with its better-known US peers, challenging the long-held consensus that companies from Asia’s private sector need to offer premium pricing to access the global markets. Just two months after completing the largest initial public offering in history, Alibaba announced its intention to sell Reg S/144A senior...

CAR Inc’s US$500m high-yield debut is the type of offering that is crucial to driving Asia’s bond markets forward. It is the first issue from a sector that is new to the region, but can attract a global following, and a fast-growing credit interesting enough to engage investors in a challenging price-discovery process. CAR did more than just tick the right boxes for a slick high-yield offering. It set a new standard for the Asian high-yield sector. The company’s offering was the first from the Chinese car rental sector, an industry that is...

As local currency and domestic bonds grow in importance on the back of significant developments in the onshore renminbi market, HSBC stood out for its reach and innovation across Asia’s capital markets. It is the only non-Chinese bank among the top five bookrunners of Asian currency bonds and comfortably the biggest arranger outside of the Chinese and Australian markets, with a monumental 204 deals to its name during IFR’s review period, excluding certificates of deposit and commercial paper. HSBC is the only bank to rank as a top-five bond...

Apple’s Kangaroo debut smashed a plethora of domestic records and was the clear choice as Asian currency bond of the year. August’s A$2.25bn (US$1.6bn) offering put the Australian dollar market firmly on the map as an alternative funding currency for the world’s top corporate issuers, proving that the Kangaroo market can compete on size, as well as price. Apple’s debut, as well as being Australia’s biggest corporate bond, was the first corporate Kangaroo to go out to seven years and the first to include multiple tenors. The deal dwarfed all...

Despite distractions at head office and a slowing Asian market, Deutsche Bank stuck to its guns in Asian loans in 2015, relying on its risk judgement and distribution skills to chalk up numerous sole mandates, while maintaining healthy returns on risk-weighted assets. Deutsche Bank did not have things all its own way in 2015, as a management reshuffle back in Germany and painful group writedowns raised plenty of questions over its risk appetite. The German lender also faced a tough operating environment in Asia, as China’s slowing economy...

When Malaysia Airports Holdings began negotiations in October 2014 to refinance existing debt at its Turkish unit, it was clear that there would be plenty of challenges ahead, but a novel approach to the loan resulted in a smooth takeoff six months later – complete with a rare reverse flex to reduce pricing for the borrower. MAHB’s discussions centred around debt at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, where the Malaysian borrower was set to trigger change-of-control clauses with a move to buy the 40% stake it did not already own....

Morgan Stanley consistently stood out from the crowd in 2015 as the first to take advantage of short windows in a volatile year for Asian equity offerings. The US bank had the confidence to reopen the Hong Kong IPO market after the summer rout, as well as handling deals in difficult conditions from Thailand to Indonesia. It focused on situations where it could play a leading role in execution, dodging most of the bunfights among 20-strong IPO syndicates and, instead, chalking up jumbo – and lucrative – deals as sole arranger or one of only...

Hang Seng Bank’s sale of a Rmb12.73bn (US$2bn) stake in Industrial Bank broke new ground in China’s equity capital markets, offering a fresh template for major A-share disposals and introducing international standards to the mainland’s still developing stock market. The block trade offered an alternative way for foreign investors to monetise their A-share investments, and proved that innovation remained possible even in a restricted, and often unpredictable, capital market. Hang Seng, of which HSBC owns 62%, was looking to trim its stake in...

Six years after regulators introduced the format, China’s first exchangeable bond opened a new avenue for capital raising and added another tool for the country’s reform of its sprawling state-owned enterprises. Baosteel’s Rmb4bn (US$650m) EB, exchangeable into shares of China’s third-largest insurance company New China Life, was an innovative way for SOEs to monetise their non-core assets. The structure took on further significance after China banned most share sales to stem the summer stock-market rout, becoming the only way for major...

The Government of Malaysia’s sovereign sukuk set a milestone in the Islamic finance market in a complicated economic and political climate. The US$1.5bn dual-tranche 144A/Reg S issue comprised a US$1bn 10-year tranche and the world’s first 30-year sovereign sukuk. The tenor is a milestone that will help create a long-dated benchmark Islamic curve for other similar issuers in the future. The sukuk used wakala principles and was the first sovereign issue to be structured using sharia-compliant commodities, leasable assets, and non-physical income...

The first overseas corporate bond from landlocked Laos was always going to be a voyage into uncharted waters. For EDL-Generation, however, the gamble paid off, with a Bt6.5bn (US$181.3m) three-tranche bond, which established a benchmark curve for the country’s corporate sector. In December 2014, EDL-Gen became the first corporate issuer from Laos to raise funds in the baht debt market. Prior to the EDL-Gen foray, Thai investors were only familiar with the sovereign, as the Lao People’s Democratic Republic had three outstanding bonds totalling...