Loans and High Yield

Great Point Entertainment Income Trust, a UK investment trust engaged in film financing, launched a £200m ($273.54m) IPO on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Barclays has launched an €840m loan that forms the initial buy-out debt funding the takeover of UK supermarket chain Asda by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital. The bulk of the £3.5bn debt stack will follow in bond formats, with £2.25bn of senior secured and £500m of unsecured notes on offer.

Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust printed a $200m bond on Tuesday, with investors largely brushing off concerns about the hit to the borrower's business during the pandemic.

Indonesia’s Adaro Energy has sent out a request for proposals for a $400m loan to meet its refinancing needs.

The extraordinary price action in GameStop, AMC Entertainment and others' shares last week is surely leading nervous CFOs all over the world to get an at-the-money rights issue signed off, in case they win the attention of Reddit's WallStreetBets crowd and can raise equity at giddy multiples. But this is like hoping for a winning lottery ticket. For firms in the most Covid-addled sectors, a private approach will be their best shot at financing a turnaround.

GCL New Energy Holdings, a Chinese solar power company, has failed to repay a $500m bond that was due on January 30.

Property company China Fortune Land Development has missed payments on Rmb5.255bn ($813m) of onshore debt, adding to concerns about its liquidity condition and access to funding.

Mongolian Mortgage Corp (MIK), which was forced to pull its dollar bond last month after sudden political upheaval in the country, returned to the market on Monday to raise $250m.

Singapore’s ride hailing start-up Grab Holding has further increased the size of its term loan B to $2bn following solid traction in the US market.

Hong Kong’s personal loan provider United Asia Finance has increased the size of its loan to HK$2.55bn ($328m) after receiving strong response during syndication.

A blistering pace of supply in Asia’s dollar bond market in January is set to continue, with more borrowers preparing to print deals this week ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays. But DCM bankers say there are some signs of rising pressure.

Corporate default rates are expected to decline towards the end of this year after peaking in the next few months, but the number of borrowers facing a plunge into junk ratings is near a record high. Lenders say that they are taking a pragmatic view on the companies in their loan portfolios to try and prevent defaults.