Westpac

Shandong Qingyuan Group has closed a $430m one year self-arranged club loan with five participants.

A rally in the debt market and Indian Oil Corp’s (IOC) scarcity value buoyed the company’s return to dollar bond investors for the first time since 2013, allowing it to add a chunky $900m to its coffers.

Westpac issued the first dollar covered bond of the year this week, while its New Zealand subsidiary hit the euro market following the demand unearthed by an earlier deal from ANZ New Zealand.

Better late than never. After a sluggish start to the year, international activity in the Swiss franc market finally began in mid-week when Westpac priced the first Australian covered bond in Swissies since a Sfr200m National Australia Bank (NAB) trade in January 2014.

Indian Oil Corp is in the market with a $1.3bn financing, in yet another sign the country’s famously stingy borrowers are allowing pricing to inch up.

Loans syndicate bankers in Asia are keeping busy until the end of the year with new deal launches from across the region.

State Bank of India’s $500m loan is now in limited syndication after the senior lenders were mandated in October.

National Australia Bank (NAB) was looking for execution certainty when heading to the dollar market to sell a pair of senior unsecured and covered bonds on Monday. But with credit conditions improving on Tuesday, Westpac shaved a few basis points off the cost of funding compared with its peer by opting for euros in covered and senior formats.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has taken a very different approach from the rest of the world with its total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) rules, proposing that banks meet these new capital requirements with tier two rather than any new form of bail-inable senior debt.

State Bank of India has mandated seven banks for a $500m offshore borrowing, returning to the market just two months after closing its last facility.

India’s Yes Bank has closed a $400m borrowing, attracting four participants during syndication.

A pair of Chinese borrowers broke the lull in new loan syndications from north Asia this week, seeking a combined $450m from their latest fundraisings.