Taiwan

Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) opened books on Wednesday for a single tranche dollar bond to be dual listed in Singapore and Taiwan. While the Korean issuer has taken this approach before in offshore renminbi, sources close to the latest deal say this is the first of its kind in dollars.

Two acquisition financings are due to hit general syndication after Chinese New Year. One is a loan for Baring Private Equity Asia’s acquisition of HCP Global, and the other is for Singha Asia, which is buying stakes in two companies from Vietnam’s Masan through the issue of new capital.

Four banks are due to bring a $430m five year loan for Baring’s acquisition of cosmetics packaging company HCP Global to the market after Chinese New Year.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange and Singapore Exchange have cemented a strategic partnership that will allow Taiwanese brokers to directly trade Singapore-listed securities.

Barclays beat a hasty retreat this week from the bulk of its investment banking operations in Asia, shuttering offices in multiple countries and slashing hundreds of jobs amid a wider global cull in costs and personnel. It did not pull any punches, with the cuts stretching across the equities, loans and bonds products. John Loh reports.

Barclays is pulling out of the cash equities business in Asia Pacific as the bank stages a total exit from a number of countries in the region including Taiwan and Korea.

Grand Capital International, a subsidiary of SinoPac Financial Holdings, is tapping dollar liquidity in Taiwan for a $220m three year loan.

The drop in offshore RMB (CNH) deposits in Hong Kong, and the further tightening of CNH liquidity due to the intervention of the Chinese central bank, is being touted as examples of how investors are ready to sell out of RMB assets. But a glance at liquidity trends across other RMB hubs reveals that the picture may be more nuanced.

A big spike in the interbank rate for offshore renminbi has cast doubts over the development of the nascent CNH Hibor loan market. The changes in the overnight rates unnerved bankers, who responded that a wait-and-watch approach would be the most sensible, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Taiwanese conglomerate Formosa Plastics Group has launched a $2.5bn dual tranche loan into syndication.

China’s A-share market may be experiencing huge volatility this year, but Taiwan investors, are gaining more access investing in Chinese companies as new ETF tracking the Chinese SMEs join the growing suite of ETF products on Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

A $2.5bn loan for Taiwanese major Formosa Plastics Group launched into general syndication last week, with a big chunk to be used to finance projects in Vietnam.