Maybank
Maybank has been consistently successful at inserting itself into local and regional BRI deals.
The Kuala Lumpur-based lender operates China coverage desks in the Malaysian capital, as well as in Singapore and Indonesia, to cater to the offshore needs of Chinese companies. It also has branches in Beijing, Kunming, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, with a clear focus on facilitating cross-border financing, trade and investment for Asean and Greater China-based conglomerates, financial institutions and state-owned firms.
Over the last year, the Malaysian lender, whose team includes Gregory Seow, chief executive of Greater China operations and global head of financial institutions at Maybank Group, has organized and hosted several bilateral and regional dinners, events and forums, including Invest Asia (held in London in June 2018), Invest Malaysia, co-hosted with Bursa Malaysia in March 2019, and Invest Asean, in alliance with ICBC International.
Perhaps the key event over the last year for the bank was its sale of Rmb2 billion ($283 million) worth of panda bonds, a blend of one-year and three-year notes underwritten by China Development Bank, BNP Paribas, HSBC and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. It marked Maybank’s second renminbi-denominated print in two years.
The proceeds, it says, will be used to support and fund BRI projects, in sectors from utilities and mining to oil and gas and petrochemicals.
A member of the Belt and Road Bankers Roundtable, Maybank was also joint lead manager and joint bookrunner on ICBC Singapore’s inaugural $2.2 billion green bond this April, with the aim of supporting the development of a greener BRI.
The bank has also been at the heart of a number of corporate-led transactions and investments. It was sole financier on a $68 million warehousing facility, to be built in Singapore by Jurong Island Chemical Logistics, part of China Ocean Shipping Company.
The bank also provided financing, cash management and broking services to Changsha-based Huatian Industry, during its RM1.82 billion ($435 million) takeover of Malaysian semiconductor assembly firm Unisem, finalized in January.