Taiwan

Crédit Agricole has issued year’s first Formosa bond, which is also the first renminbi transaction to be sold in Taiwan since last August.

The limited syndication process for a multi-currency financing for affiliates of Sino Horizon has begun with one bank at the helm.

Standard & Poor’s has cut its credit ratings on Standard Chartered group entities by one notch, becoming the last of the three international ratings agencies to do so over the past few months.

Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group has increased the size of its latest borrowing to $3.5bn from $2.5bn.

A slew of international financial institutions have recently found success in selling dollar notes in the Taiwanese domestic bond market, with ABN Amro breaking new ground last week with a tier two deal. Taiwan’s local investors have proved resilient during tough times and with the market looking increasingly attractive, there are plenty of opportunities for FIG issuers.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) sold two tranches of floating rate notes on March 18, in a transaction that was driven by reverse enquiry from Taiwanese banks.

ABN Amro became the first foreign lender to issue a tier two bond in Taiwan’s Formosa market following a change in rules at the start of the year.

Crédit Agricole has received a bond underwriting licence from Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC). The country presents a great opportunity for global issuers in dollars but it could be some time before renminbi issuance revives.

A group of 10 banks is in discussions with semiconductor firm Micron Technology for a NT$80bn ($2.5bn) loan to back its acquisition of Taiwan’s Inotera Memories.

A $430m five year loan for Baring Private Equity Asia’s acquisition of cosmetics packaging company HCP Global has launched into general syndication.

In this round-up, RMB deposits in Taiwan held up in January while South Korea's fell further, Bank of China's RMB index closed 2015 on a positive note, Stock Connect sees more southbound than northbound trading, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange added one RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) quota this month. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.

Export-Import Bank of Korea demonstrated its sophistication in the bond market on Wednesday with what market participants believe is the first single tranche dollar bond to be listed in both Singapore and Taiwan. Kexim’s success is set to encourage more high quality foreign issuers to follow in its footsteps.