Coronavirus

Weak investor sentiment, oversupply and aggressive pricing strategies hurt the Asian dollar bond market this week. As issuers rushed to sell deals before China’s Golden Week holiday and the US presidential election in November, many were left with transactions that fell short of expectations or slumped in the secondary market. Morgan Davis reports.

When you go down to the woods today, you’ll be in for a big surprise — hedge fund managers.

Chinese rating agencies are facing increasing pressure, after the country’s securities association said it had found evidence of firms inflating ratings to win business. Addison Gong reports.

China Merchants Bank raised $700m from a dual-tranche transaction on Tuesday, marketed by two different overseas branches with two different structures. But the issuer ran into negative market sentiment that dented appetite for the deal.

China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co had to tackle questions from investors and weaker market conditions to sell the first dollar tier two bond from a Mainland leasing company.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank made a big splash in the dollar market on Tuesday, despite facing worse volatility than expected as fears over the coronavirus pandemic grew.

Commodities company Mercuria has returned for its annual borrowing of $980m. This time, it is enticing banks with a 10bp Covid-19 premium on the loan margin and fees.

SCG Packaging is set to begin investor presentations for its up to Bt39.5bn ($1.26bn) IPO, which will be Thailand’s second largest listing in 2020.

CCB Leasing’s plans to raise $500m were scuppered after markets tanked and investor sentiment took a hit on Monday. The Chinese firm was forced to adjust its expectations for a smaller $300m bond.

Neusoft Education Technology, a Chinese private higher education provider, hit the road with its Hong Kong IPO this week, aiming to raise HK$1.04bn ($133.8m).

Formosa Plastics Corp is seeking a $2bn loan that bankers expect to be priced at a record low for borrowers from Taiwan, setting a benchmark for future transactions.

Cyrus Ardalan, chair of the board of directors at the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), discussed whether others could follow his organisation's model to finance solutions to social challenges at the GlobalCapital Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets Virtual Forum 2020 on Wednesday.