Asia Roundup
PwC Pays $166 Million to Settle HK Evergrande Audit Probe
PricewaterhouseCoopers agreed to pay HKD 1.3 billion (USD 166 million) in fines and compensation to settle investigations into its auditing work for the collapsed property giant China Evergrande Group, Bloomberg reported.
Hong Kong’s Accounting and Financial Reporting Council imposed a six-month suspension on the firm, barring it from accepting or performing audit work for new listed clients. The watchdog also levied a HKD 300 million fine.
In a parallel agreement with the Securities and Futures Commission, PwC HK committed to paying HKD 1 billion into a fund dedicated to compensating eligible independent minority shareholders of Evergrande.
MTR Corp’s HKD 18.8 Billion Green Bond Sale Sets Local Currency Record
The MTR Corporation has sold HKD 18.8 billion (USD 2.4 billion) in green bonds, setting a Hong Kong dollar-denominated issuance record and marking its first publicly offered bond in the local currency market, as it seeks to diversify funding for a raft of projects, South China Morning Post reported.
Blackstone’s AirTrunk Plans Its First Data Center-Backed Bond
Blackstone-owned data center operator AirTrunk is looking to raise at least AUD 500 million (USD 358 million) through asset-backed bonds, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Sydney-headquartered company is planning to launch the bond in the second half of the year to refinance existing bank loans. The firm has held meetings locally and outside Australia to shore up investor interest, the people said, adding that it appointed Deutsche Bank to lead the transaction.
Hao Mart Shuts Stores, Sinks Deeper into Losses with Four High Court Lawsuits Looming
Singapore supermarket and minimart chain Hao Mart has shrunk its network of outlets as it sinks further into the red, The Straits Times reported.
Hao Mart is also facing four legal battles in the High Court, including a dispute with landlord OG over the lease termination of its flagship Taste Orchard shopping mall in Orchard Road.
Indonesia Roundup
Garuda Leads Losses in Bonds of Asian Airlines Stung by Iran War
Bonds of Asian airlines, led by Garuda Indonesia, are showing strain from the Iran war as higher fuel burdens compared with global peers amplify their vulnerabilities, Bloomberg reported.
A note of state-controlled Garuda has dropped about 7 cents on the dollar since the start of the conflict to about 85.4, one of the biggest declines for any US-currency bond of an airline globally.
Despite completing a sweeping USD 9.6 billion debt restructuring in 2022, Indonesia’s Garuda still has an interest coverage ratio of just 1.6 times, the lowest among listed Southeast Asian flag carriers, while its debt-to-equity ratio is the highest among airlines globally, according to Bloomberg.
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Fitch Flags Risks from Indonesia’s Reliance on State Banks to Fund Government Programs
Fitch Ratings has warned that Indonesia’s growing reliance on state-owned banks to support government programs could pose longer-term risks to asset quality and the country’s policy framework, even though the banking sector currently remains resilient, The Business Times reported.
George Xu, director of Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings at Fitch Ratings, said that Indonesia’s banking system still shows strong underlying credit fundamentals, but that the increasing policy role assigned to state lenders warrants closer scrutiny.
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