Coronavirus

Banco de Sabadell on Wednesday looked to replicate the success of Mediobanca earlier this week in capitalising on appetite for green bonds. Appetite for the Spanish lender’s inaugural green preferred senior bond led it to print the deal through fair value.

Philippine oil refining and marketing company Petron is seeking lenders’ consent to make amendments to two of its old borrowings, following an initial warning in July.

Mediobanca was able to attract demand seven times the size of its new €500m senior bond on Tuesday, which was its debut green deal. The high demand allowed the issuer to launch with a negative new issue premium based on its conventional curve.

Modern Land (China) Co received an 18 times oversubscribed book for a $100m tap of two of its green bonds, as investors threw their weight behind the Chinese property developer’s deal.

Singapore has been a front-runner when it comes to moving away from Libor to a new benchmark, with its regulators, borrowers and banks playing an active role in preparing the market. The rest of Asia’s loan market should pay attention.

Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has played a pre-eminent role in tackling Covid-19 this year, mainly by offering financial support to countries like Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Vietnam to combat the impact of the pandemic. But its work is not nearly over, as second and third waves of the coronavirus hit countries around the world.

Supply and demand for senior financial institution bonds was lukewarm this week, as issuers and investors favoured higher yielding products amid healthy market conditions. FIG deal arrangers are predicting that the trend is set to continue and that issuers will favour capital trades.

The Indian government is offloading an up-to 10% stake in Hindustan Aeronautics that could add about Rp33.5bn ($451m) to its coffers.

Thomas Hugger has more than two decades of investment experience in frontier markets. Volatility is part of the job description. But he has never faced challenges like those unleashed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Huangshan Tourism Group Co opted for euros for its maiden offshore bond. The €230m transaction benefited from a standby letter of credit from Bank of China’s Anhui branch, as well as strong bookrunner support.

Genting Hong Kong, a cruise ship operator under financial pressure due to the pandemic, held a meeting on Monday with its bank creditors to discuss a debt restructuring plan.

Leveraged finance bankers in Asia are counting on the possible delisting of a host of Chinese companies from the US to give a fillip to the region’s dollar loan market this year. But bankers should temper their expectations.