The strong appetite for Korean global bond issues this year may have surprised some people. With a steady stream of issues dominating the Asian market, Korean names have found their deals heavily oversubscribed and been able to achieve tight pricing. Even when pricing at the low end of guidance, issuers have seen bond yields tighten as soon as they hit secondary. Korean banks alone issued US$14bn of medium and long-term bonds in the international markets in the first half of this year. They have

Fortunately for latecomers, Danajamin is unlikely to grant all the applicants what they hope for. Instead, the insurer will be stringent in applying its qualifying criteria to potential issuers, the first of which is expected to receive a letter of offer from the agency imminently. Danajamin is the new buzzword in the ringgit bond market, a much-hoped for antidote to treat the risk-aversion phenomenon that has brewed in the local market for the past five to seven years. Malaysia has one of the r

These have included some deals of reasonable size, including six worth the equivalent of more than US$100m. The largest, for Bank Ekspor Indonesia, raised Rp2.5trn (US$195m) in June through Danareksa and Trimegah Securities; others have come from Indofood Sukses Makmur, Perum Pegadaian, Bank Tabungan Negara, Medco Energy Intenasional and Perhsahaan Listrik Negara. That represents a mixture of bank and corporate issuance. While the market has been reasonably active, participants are expecting muc

This will be more than the Bt264bn of bonds sold by the private sector in 2008, which was a record, according to data from Thomson Reuters. For the first six months of this year, total private debt issuance amounted to Bt231.4bn – up 60% from Bt146.4bn in the corresponding period of 2008. The bond community owes its thanks to retail investors who have been the major driving force. Retail buyers have been on the hunt for better yields ever since the low interest rate environment pushed bank depos

“There is demand from credit buyers who would prefer to invest in the credit rather than the guarantee, so it is important for us to ensure that those investors continue to be informed on our credit and have access to our non-guaranteed paper,” said John te Wechel, general manager of group funding at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). CBA is a good example of this approach. It was the first Australian big four bank to issue without a guarantee and so far has raised about A$6bn (US$4.9bn) in t

There have been many steps in the right direction. When first suggested in 2005, Panda bonds were intended as a tool for multilaterals: the International Finance Corp launched bonds in 2005 and 2006, and the Asian Development Bank in 2005 on the understanding that the proceeds remained in China for development purposes. In July 2008, China published a draft revision expanding the scope of Panda bonds to include foreign banks and corporations with operations in China. Specifically, the issuing ba

In order to maintain 8% economic growth in 2009, China announced a Rmb4trn (US$571bn) government stimulus package in late 2008, wherein a hefty chunk of the liquidity injected would be channelled through the bond market, which almost ensured the domestic bond market’s prosperity. One major move is the government’s Rmb200bn debt programme under which the central government issues bonds on behalf of municipalities. The plan is a half-way step towards reintroducing municipal bonds to the PRC, where

Samurai issuance year-to-date, including a private deal from the Republic of Indonesia, stands at ¥851.5bn (US$8.98bn), according to data from Thomson Reuters. Issuance from Asia, at ¥429.3bn, accounts for just over half the Samurai market. Closer inspection, however, reveals that two huge government guaranteed deals from Australian banks make up ¥381.3bn of Asian issuance. Carrying the Commonwealth of Australia's guarantee, Westpac in February reopened the market and started what became a roste

Retailer Matahari Putra Prima is set to get the Asian high-yield ball rolling with a deal that is tied closely to the company’s recent exchange and consent offer for its US$150m three-year non-call one Reg S deal, which Credit Suisse and UBS arranged in September 2006 and which matures this October. Matahari made presentations in London and Asia in early June to bondholders as well as new investors prior to setting out terms on the exchange offer. Citigroup and UBS were in charge of the business

If there has been one bright spot in capital markets amid the global gloom then it is surely the Asian local bond market. Even as wider capital markets issuance has shrunk, many Asian countries are on track to post record issuance this year. The success of the region’s bond markets can be traced back to the dark days of the Asian financial crisis, more than a decade ago now, when the region’s addiction to short-term foreign debt caused many currencies to collapse. Determined not to repeat the di