New Zealand dollar

Standard Chartered says the lower tier two it issued in Singapore dollars on Thursday is just part of business as usual for the growing institution.

Hong Kong-listed Asia Cement (China) Holdings raised Rmb586m ($91.7m) in the offshore renminbi market on Friday, pushing ahead with the deal despite a rout in global markets that encouraged other companies to scrap their funding plans.

French gas producer Air Liquide closed an Rmb850m ($133m) seven year bond late last week, getting reverse enquiry demand from investors after it sold a larger five year issue in the public market.

Asian companies hoping to raise money in the bond market had better be patient — and ready to strike at a moment’s notice, said bankers on Monday. The region’s stock markets plummeted en masse as investors dumped their holdings or took out new short positions following Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the US last week, and bankers think the psychological effect of such prolonged and violent falls will make any new bond activity unlikely.

Bank of China International, DBS and HSBC are managing the five year deal, and had declared pricing of 290bp over Treasuries by the time EuroWeek Asia went to press, although they were still working out the size of the transaction.

China Resources Power is planning to sell its first Hong Kong renminbi issue, turning to the offshore bond market only months after raising $500m from a dollar bond issue. The issuer has mandated Goldman Sachs on the deal — giving the US bank its first Hong Kong renminbi mandate.