Vietnam

Hong Kong-listed HNA International Investment Holdings has announced plans for a HK$2.97bn ($383m) rights issue that will hit the market in October.

Vietnam is working fervently to open its markets, turning things up a notch in August by signing a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union. The country’s transformation from a nation ravaged by war to one of Asia’s biggest success stories is impressive, but more reforms are critical if it wants to have a real chance at becoming the next tiger economy. Rashmi Kumar reports.

We remarked last week that emerging markets could face a difficult time ahead. Well, we didn’t have to wait long before the early manoeuvers in a possible currency war had an impact on sovereign CDS spreads.

A spike in Asian green bond issuance this year has not yet spurred the use of the instrument by borrowers in the Asean region, where the conventional debt markets already face challenges as they develop. But credit enhancements and strong precedents from neighbouring countries could help generate more green activity in southeast Asia, writes Christina Khouri.

VietinBank, one of the four largest state owned commercial lenders from Vietnam, is accessing the offshore syndicated loan market for the third time this year, via a $100m three year that is now in general syndication. The margin on the loan is below 200bp.

BNP Paribas has named a new head of country for Vietnam and chief executive officer of its Ho Chi Minh City branch.

Vietnam’s Sacombank has completed an overseas fundraising of $50m, with a group of five lenders supplying the funds. The loan comes close on the heels of a borrowing by Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) that is now in its final leg. An overall lull in the syndicated loan market this year has driven banks to look beyond larger southeast Asian economies for business.