Thailand

TPI Polene Power is lighting up Thai ECM, launching an up to Bt17.5bn ($500m) IPO on Friday with eight cornerstone investors in the bag.

The heat is on for IPOs in south-east Asia, with banks staging charm offensives towards investors during pre-marketing.

Stock exchanges in southeast Asia are set for a busy year, as they eye a rebound in ECM activity and make plans to woo foreign issuers.

Thailand Future Fund is expected to launch the first tranche of its Bt100bn ($2.9bn) IPO in the third quarter of this year, said bankers.

Activity is trickling back into Asia ECM as bankers return to their desks post Chinese New Year, with several Hong Kong IPOs looking to start pre-marketing and a Thai name testing investor appetite.

Power company Gulf Group has appointed a consortium of domestic and foreign firms to run its planned listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) this year.

A stable market backdrop and the rarity of Thai credits allowed Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) to price its $400m bond tighter than its peers.

Siam Commercial Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea both returned to the dollar bond market on Monday an extended period away.

Malaysia’s first IPO of size this year priced comfortably at the top of indications, raising MR584.1m ($130.5m) for Serba Dinamik Holdings.

The Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX), which enjoyed a 72% growth in trade volume last year, is set to add futures on 24 stocks.

The renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) scheme is set to end 2016 on a disappointing note with the combined value of quotas awarded amounting to roughly half of last year’s total.

Indonesia’s move to pre-fund its 2017 financing requirements with a bond last week surprised the market. Views are mixed on whether it made the right decision but DCM bankers in the region hope other sovereigns will also look to make an early start on funding plans.