Joint book Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan launched a top-up placement for Cosco Pacific.

Joint book Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan launched a top-up placement for Cosco Pacific. The deal comprises 387.5m shares at HK$10.40–$10.96 apiece to raise up to HK$4.25bn (US$545.9m). The price range represents a 5%–9.9% discount to pre-deal spot. There is a 90-day lock-up on the company. The company closed flat at HK$11.54 today.

 

Sole book Morgan Stanley launched a share placement for United Laboratories at market close. The deal comprises 100m shares (50% primary/ 50% secondary) at HK$8.38–$8.58 apiece to raise up to HK$858m (US$110.3m). The price range represents a 6.8%–9% discount to pre-deal spot. Heren Far East is the vendor. There is a 90-day lock-up on the company and the vendor. The company fell 4.76% to close at HK$9.21 today.

 

Bumi Armada, a shipping company owned by tycoon Ananda Krishnan, is rumoured to have hired CIMB, CLSA, Credit Suisse, Maybank and RHB to manage its US$400m–$450m IPO. Another domestic bank may also be added. The issuer wants to do the deal before August, but internal restructuring may delay it. One ECM banker said: "With this group, you're not mandated until you've actually done the deal."

 

UBS has launched an up to Ps4.6bn (US$103m) accelerated top-up placement for Metropolitan Bank & Trust. It is offering 93.1m shares at Ps48.00–Ps49.50 apiece, a 10%–12.7% discount to the April 29 close of Ps55.00 per share. Federal Homes, Global Treasure Holdings, Philippine Securities and GT Capital Holdings are the vendors. There is a 180-day lock-up on the vendors. UBS is sole bookrunner.

 

Philippine shopping centre developer SM Prime has appointed CLSA and Macquarie as advisers to its proposed US$500m REIT issue. JP Morgan is advising Ayala Land and Citi is advising Robinsons Land on their planned REIT offerings, which will be around US$300m in size. The REIT law should come into effect in the next two weeks.

 

Joint leads BofA Merrill Lynch and RBS have launched an up to US$850m zero coupon CBs due 2030 for QBE Funding V. The CB is puttable by holders on May 12 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2025. The yield to final redemption is 2%–2.5% and initial conversion premium is 30% over the reference price of A$21.20 (equivalent to US$19.57 which is the April 29 close). Proceeds will be used to redeem so-called Lyons IV (liquid yield option securities) convertible securities which will redeemed by QBE Funding Trust IV on May 17. The deal, guaranteed by QBE Insurance Group, has the same structure as the Lyons deal done in 2007. Yield is likely to be set at the top end. The issuer is rated A3/A (Moody's;S&P). The credit spread is 100bp over Libor and bond floor works to 97.5–99 with implied vol about 18–23. The 100-day vol is around 25.

 

 

Fubon Financial has set a long-term fundraising plan for the year. The company is looking to raise up to NT$35bn (US$1.1bn) through equity raising. It is considering raising funds through domestic or overseas convertible bonds, share placement or GDR issuance. The company may opt for one or more of the above fundraising channels. If the company goes for a CB, the issue amount would not exceed US$1.1bn. Apart from selling shares, the company is also looking at a NT$10bn bond issue. The fundraising plan may or may not be materialised, depending on the company's funding needs.

 

Hong Kong and Nasdaq-listed City Telecom has completed its ADR follow-on. The base deal comprised 3.5m ADSs and there was a 15% greenshoe. The greenshoe was fully exercised, boosting the deal size to 4.025m ADSs. The deal priced at US$13 apiece to raise US$52.3m. Proceeds will be used to launch the company's new domestic free television programme services in Hong Kong and for general corporate purposes. Oppenheimer and Roth Capital Partners led the transaction.

 

Ji Hua Group has obtained the CSRC approval on its Rmb3.25bn (US$464m) A-share IPO. The company is planning to sell 1.157bn shares, or 30% of its enlarged capital base. UBS Securities is leading the transaction.  

 

Two companies – O-Net Communications and Sijia Group – started trading on the Hong Kong bourse today and both made decent debuts. O-Net ended the day 37.6% above its IPO price while Sijia closed 12% above its issue price. Sijia raised HK$656m (US$84.3m) via Piper Jaffray. O-Net raised HK$560.5m (US$72m) via CLSA.

 

Miner Atlas Iron will raise A$63.5m (US$58.8m) through a placement to international and domestic institutional shareholders. Hartleys is managing the placement, which was heavily oversubscribed. The company will issue 25.5m shares at A$2.49 apiece, a 7.4% discount to the April 23 close. The placement is expected to be completed on May 7. Proceeds will be used to accumulate an ore stockpile ahead of the start of exports from its Utah Port facility in Port Hedland.

 

The book is covered on nursing college operator Masterskill's up to M$779m (US$243m) IPO. Pricing is scheduled for May 4. CIMB and Goldman Sachs are joint global coordinators and bookrunners.

 

Bank Internasional Indonesia's Rp1.407trn (US$156m) rights issue was 0.3% oversubscribed. Maybank, which holds a 97.52% stake in BII, took up its full rights and acted as standby buyer, but did not have to take up any excess rights shares. Around 6.25bn shares were offered at a price of Rp225 per share. The shares closed at Rp305 apiece on April 28. Mandiri Sekuritas managed the offering.

Agricultural Bank of China held a kick-off meeting for its US$20bn-plus A/H IPO in Beijing today.

Agricultural Bank of China held a kick-off meeting for its US$20bn-plus A/H IPO in Beijing today. According to sources, the fundraising size has not been determined as yet but the deal could come as early as July. The lender has mandated CICC, CAF Securities, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Macquarie and Morgan Stanley as bookrunners for the H-share IPO and CICC, Citic Securities, Galaxy Securities and Guotai Junan Securities as leads for the A-share IPO.

 

Sijia Group has fixed the offer price for its Hong Kong IPO at HK$3.28 apiece, in the upper end of the marketed HK$2.69–$3.38 range. The deal comprises 200m new shares to raise HK$656m (US$84.3m). Hong Kong public offer will start tomorrow. Piper Jaffray is the bookrunner. Sijia is principally engaged in the design, development, manufacture and sale of polymer processed high strength polyester fabric composite materials.

 

Only 18% of the holders of Country Garden's RMB4.3bn US dollar settled 2.5% CBs due 2013 have tendered back their bonds to the company under a buyback offer. The company received only tenders worth RMB781m and it said in a press release it was pleased with the response. The company offered bondholders about 111 and some rival bankers thought the price was low and that's why response was not that great. "I can't think of many exams where the pass mark is 18.1%," said one banker.

 

At launch, the bonds were trading at 108.5 and the accreted value of the bonds or the value of the bonds after adding the interest payments from issue to April 7 was 108.25. Bondholders would have got paid 111.997 if they had held the bonds until put which was up in a year. One banker argued that the fact that few bonds were tendered also showed that investors who had not tendered had the confidence of getting paid when the put date came up.

 

GMR Infrastructure has launched an up to US$250m QIP. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is the sole global coordinator and bookrunning lead manager. Other lead managers are Axis Bank, ICICI Securities, IDBI Capital Market Services. The indicative price is Rs62.20 close to the Sebi floor price of Rs62.13. The close today was Rs63.85 on BSE.

 

Hong Kong and Nasdaq-listed City Telecom launched an ADR follow-on today. The deal comprises 3.5m shares and a 15% greenshoe. Based on the company's last closing price of US$15.23 apiece in the US, the deal could raise US$53m. Proceeds will be used to launch the company's new domestic free television program services in Hong Kong and for general corporate purposes. Oppenheimer and Roth Capital Partners are leading the transaction.

 

Shanghai-listed Industrial Bank has received the CSRC approval to raise Rmb18bn (US$2.64bn) by selling rights shares on a two-for-10 basis. Proceeds will replenish the bank's core capital, boosting its core capital adequacy ratio to more than 10%.

 

Shanghai-listed Hua Xia Bank went into trading halt yesterday. Rumours are that the lender is looking to raise up to Rmb20bn (US$2.93bn) through a private placement to raise its capital adequacy ratio. Deutsche Bank, Shougang Corporation and the State Grid, the three largest shareholders of Hua Xia Bank, are expected to participate in the placement.

 

Shenzhen-listed Hubei Yihua Chemical Industry is looking to raise Rmb2.5bn (US$366m) through a private placement by selling up to 150m shares at not less than Rmb18.51 apiece. Parent Yihua Group has committed to subscribe to 16% of the deal. Of the funds raised, Rmb2bn will be used for project development while Rmb500m for bank loans repayment.

 

SGX-listed UNITED Envirotech, which provides membrane-based water and wastewater treatment services in China, is looking at a dual listing in Taiwan by selling TDRs. The TDR issuance will represent 10% of the company's enlarged share capital. It has mandated Polaris Securities on the deal.

 

Citic Securities, China's largest brokerage by market value, and Credit Agricole SA's Asian brokerage affiliate are in talks to create a venture in the region, according to a mainland newspaper. CLSA is expected to be part of the combined entity.

 

Taihan Electric Wire, which manufactures power and communications cables, has set the price for its follow-on offering at W10,750 per share to raise W184bn (US166m). The price was calculated as a 20% discount to the three-day VWAP to April 14 and was lower than the expected price of W13,650 per share given in the offering circular. The deal size is equivalent to 30% of existing company capital. The company's shares lost 3.4% today to close at W12,850. Subscription runs from April 19–20 and settlement is on April 22. The new shares will list on May 3. Daewoo Securities, Hana Daetoo and Tong Yang are lead managers.

 

The April 14 selldown by the Beneficial Trust Fund of PLDT in Metro Pacific Investment Corporation was partially upsized to 1.4bn shares from the base deal size of 1.1bn shares, equivalent to around 7% of company capital. This gives a final deal size of Ps4.2bn (US$95m), based on the fixed price of Ps3.00 per share, a 3.2% discount to the April 14 close. More than 20 accounts took part. There was demand from Philippine, Asian, UK and US investors. Allocations went principally to long-only investors but there was some hedge fund participation. CLSA was sole bookrunner. Metro Pacific Investment Corporation holds investments in water, tollroads and healthcare companies.

 

Developer Ayala Land is looking to raise US$300m from a REIT, once the country's laws on the asset class are finalised. It has hired JP Morgan and BPI Capital as advisers. Robinson Land is rumoured to have hired Citi as an adviser.

 

Telekomunikasi Indonesia said it will transfer around 9,000 telecom towers from its mobile subsidiary Telkomsel to its infrastructure unit Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel). The move needs to happen because Singtel owns a 35% stake in Telkomsel and foreign firms are not allowed to own Indonesian telecoms infrastructure. Telkom's president director Rinaldi Firmansyah told local media that Macquarie is advising on the sale of the towers. After the sale, Telkom plans to launch an IPO for Mitratel, though it is not expected in the near future.

 

Philippine conglomerate San Miguel is seeking shareholder approval to allow the management to issue new shares without attendant pre-emptive rights for existing shareholders. The board is also seeking approval to sell down more than 51% of the company's stakes in its core businesses. The votes will be held in May.

 

Shares in vegetable processor China Minzhong Food opened at S$1.20 per share on its trading debut, flat to its IPO price. It closed at S$1.12, down 6.7%.

 

System integrator CSE Global yesterday raised S$39.2m (US$28.5m) from a placement of 35m treasury shares, equivalent to 7.36% of existing issued shares. The price of S$1.12 per share is a 5.9% discount to the last traded price of S$1.19. Around 65% of the book went to long-only investors, 18% to hedge funds, 11% to private bank clients and the remainder to retail. Singaporean investors accounted for 75% of the allocations, with Hong Kong investors taking 25%, Europe 5% and others 5%. CIMB was placement agent.

 

Citi announced the appointment of Ravi Kapoor as the new head of global banking India. In this role, Kapoor will report to Pramit Jhaveri, Citi country officer, India, and Farhan Faruqui, head of global banking, Asia Pacific. The appointment is effective immediately.

 

Nathan McMurtray who was announced as joining Citi in March has taken up the job of head of Asia equity-linked at Standard Chartered. He started work on Monday. Mcmurtray joined from Standard Bank in Hong Kong where he was head of Asia equity-linked origination. Prior to this he was at Morgan Stanley from 2000–2009.

Masterskill to list on Main Market

Masterskill (M) Education Group Bhd, which had put on hold twice its plans to sell shares, is expected to raise some RM800 million

Masterskill (M) Education Group Bhd, Southeast Asia's largest nursing and healthcare college operator, is finally listing on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia next month, after putting on hold twice its plans to sell shares.

According to a company source, the initial public offering (IPO) is expected to raise some RM800 million.

In its draft prospectus on the Securities Commission website, it is stated that the IPO will involve an offer for sale of 164 million existing shares and a public issue of 41 million new shares.

This means that Masterskill will only raise about RM164 million from the IPO, while the rest will go to the shareholders involved in the offer for sale.

The draft prospectus did not provide the IPO price as the group will ask for bids from institutional investors first before fixing the final price.

However, sources indicate that it could be around RM4 a share and the listing is slated for sometime next month.

Masterskill will be the country's first health science college to be listed on the local bourse.

"In February, the group was ranked first in Malaysia among all providers of nursing education in terms of student enrolment, with an estimated market share of 16 per cent," Masterskill said in its draft prospectus.

Masterskill had twice postponed the IPO: in the first quarter of 2008 and then in November the same year as market conditions were not suitable for the exercise.

It has hired CIMB Investment Bank Bhd and Goldman Sachs to help arrange the IPO.

Masterskill plans to use proceeds from the IPO to set up a nursing and medical campus in Johor in addition to nursing universities in Sabah, Sarawak and overseas.

Masterskill was set up as a company in 1997. It operated as a college in 2004 and as a university college in 2008.

Its revenue and net profit have been growing steadily since 2007 as more students enrol for its nursing and health programmes.

Last year, it had 17,165 students, up 27 per cent from the number in 2008.

In the fiscal year ended December 31 2009, Masterskill achieved net profit of RM97 million on revenue of RM273 million.

State-owned Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation sold down a 9% stake in Woori Finance

State-owned Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation sold down a 9% stake in Woori Finance, the holding company for the country's second largest bank, after market close on April 8 to raise W1.16trn (US$1.03bn). The deal was done flat to the closing share price of W16,000, the top of the W15,400–W16,000 guidance range. The base deal size was 56.4m shares, equivalent to a 7% stake, but it was increased on strong demand. Domestic accounts took 45% of the deal, with international investors taking 55%, most of which went to Asian accounts. The demand was put down to indications by the government that this would be the last selldown in Woori Finance before a majority stake is sold to a strategic investor. Credit Suisse, Daewoo, Samsung and UBS were bookrunners. Woori Finance shares closed at W16,650 today.

 

Sijia Group, which abandoned its listing plan in February, is returning to the market with a 18% cut in fundraising size. The company launched roadshows yesterday by selling 200m new shares at HK$2.69–$3.38 apiece to raise up to HK$676m (US$87m). The price range represents a 2010 P/E of 7–8.8 times. The deal will price on April 19. Piper Jaffray is the bookrunner. Sijia is principally engaged in the design, development, manufacture and sale of polymer processed high strength polyester fabric composite materials.

 

Tian Yuan Mining is rumoured to be looking to start premarketing its US$300m–$400m Hong Kong IPO early next week. Sources, however, said the timetable has not been fixed as yet. Citigroup is the sole bookrunner.

 

Sole bookrunner Morgan Stanley completed a HK$777m (US$100m) selldown in Intime Department Store yesterday. Warburg Pincus was the vendor. The deal comprised 105m shares at HK$7.33–$7.66 apiece, representing a 6%–10% discount to pre-deal spot. The deal finally priced at HK$7.40, a 9.2% discount to pre-deal spot. There were about 50 investors in the book, with demand mainly from Asia. The company fell 5.6% to close at HK$7.69 today.

 

The board of Chunghwa Picture Tubes has approved the company's plan to issue up to 1bn new shares in the form of GDRs to raise about NT$10bn (US$317m). Of the shares on offer, 10%–15% will be sold to the company's staff. Proceeds will replenish capital, purchase overseas materials and machinery and repay bank loans. CPT is also planning to raise up to NT$20bn by selling not more than 2bn shares through a private share placement or a private convertible bond.

Meanwhile, the company plans to reduce its capital by 60.59%, or 9.99bn shares, on losses it posted last year. It made a huge net loss of NT$38bn last year as the global financial crisis hurt products demand. After the capital reduction, the company's capital will be at NT$64.97bn. The proposed reduction plan is pending shareholder approval on May 20.

 

The S$170m (US$122m) SGX IPO of electronics and furniture retailer Courts Asia is on hold. It lodged its preliminary prospectus on March 12. Macquarie is sole global coordinator. OCBC is coordinator for the public offer. CLSA, Macquarie and RBS are joint bookrunners and also joint underwriters with DMG & Partners Securities and OCBC.

 

Yamaha Motor, the bike manufacturer, will price its follow-on between April 13 and 16. The allocation for the ¥77bn (US$821m) deal is now planned at 80% for retail investors and 20% for institutions. However, around half of Yamaha's shareholders are overseas investors, and the domestic only deal is said to be attracting strong interest from international short and long funds. Since the deal was launched, the share price has dropped 10.5% to close today at ¥1,267. Nomura is bookrunner.