US Appetite for Australian Financial Services Bodes Well for Insignia, Debt-Laden Greenko Gets a Refi Lifeline, West China Cement to Test Turnaround Tale With USD Bond

U.S. investor appetite for Australian financial services companies bodes well for CC Capital’s planned raise of around 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.31 billion) leveraged debt to back its buyout of Insignia Financial, sources told Octus this week.

The debt backs the private equity firm’s AUD 3.3 billion LBO of listed Australia’s Insignia Financial, a wealth management firm providing financial advice and superannuation services, and sources guided that they are comping prospects for the raise off KKR’s recent repricing of debt for Colonial First State.

Colonial First and Insignia are not entirely correlated, as the same sources noted. KKR acquired its 55% stake in the wealth management and superannuation related entity in 2020. U.S.-based CC Capital is a relative unknown in Australia, and Insignia is debuting as a leveraged debt target.

But KKR’s July repricing of Colonial’s debt bodes well for Insignia, which is following a similar USD/AUD first lien term loan B structure for its around AUD 2 billion debt raise. Colonial shaved 75 basis points off the margin on its $568 million loan, cutting it from SOFR+ 375bps to SOFR+ 300bps, with strong US liquidity allowing it to upsize to $618 million. The AUD tranche margin was cut 50bps to BBSY+ 375bps.

Colonial First State has corporate family ratings and first lien ratings of Ba2 with a negative outlook from Moody’s, and BB- with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s. Insignia is expected to obtain similar ratings.

In India, debt-laden renewable power producer Greenko Energy has mandated Nomura to place INR 6 billion, to refinance some of its existing debt. The placement will offer an internal rate of return of around 16%, and will have guarantees from the company’s promoters, Mahesh Kolli and Anil Chalamalasetty.

The unlisted Hyderabad-based company has yet to start commercial operations for its flagship project in Pinnapuram, Andhra Pradesh, which has been delayed more than 1.5 years.

Debt has been ballooning. Greenko’s total debt increased to $7.37 billion in FY25, from $5.26 billion in the previous year, resulting in the total debt-to-EBITDA ratio rising to 15.3x as of FY25, from 10.8x last year.

In China, West China Cement‘s $600 million 4.95% notes due July 2026 have risen from a distressed level in the mid-70s in February to near par at 98.75 this week. The market is confident that the company can redeem the notes without holders taking a haircut, or the company launching liability management exercise.

The turnaround in the Chinese cement maker’s fortunes is due to a rapid and profitable ramp-up of its African operations, and the successful, fair-priced sale of assets in Mainland China, the latter despite structural oversupply in the country’s cement sector.

Now West China Cement is looking to test the depth of this new market confidence with a new issuance. The company has mandated CICC, HSBC, and J.P. Morgan for a new around $300 million USD bond issue, expected to launch in October to November. The new bond is intended to partly refinance the due 2026s. The rest of the bonds will be repaid from internal cash flows and proceeds from the sale of assets in Xinjiang.
 

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Hong Kong-listed piped city-gas service provider China Oil and Gas Group has received National Development and Reform Commission approval for a $500 million bond quota to refinance debt including its $400 million 4.7% notes due June 2026, two sources said citing management. Speaking on a post-interim results conference call on Aug. 27, management of the privately owned company said it will refinance the due 2026 notes with a new bond if it is able to issue at the “lowest cost,” anticipating potential rate cuts in coming months.
 

Indonesian-listed PT Japfa Comfeed Indonesia Tbk has guided credit investors that it expects to primarily refinance its $350 million, 5.375% senior bonds due March 2026 via the total 7 trillion Indonesian Rupiah ($428.4 million) bilateral loans raised from Bank Central Asia, Bank Negara Indonesia, and Maybank Indonesia earlier this year. Japfa has up-to one year to draw down on the three bilats closed in April and May.
 

Australia-listed Nickel Industries Ltd. is mulling an issue of bullet maturity bonds to avoid having to pay down debt through amortization to refinance its $400 million 11.25% notes due October 2028. Nickel Industries is still weighing the timing of the new bond issue, with a potential launch in the fourth quarter of this year or early next year.
 

The Malaysian Federal Land Development Authority, or Felda, is still waiting for a Singapore International Arbitration Court award to be enforced against Indonesian conglomerate Rajawali Group, a year after registering the case with the Central Jakarta Court in August 2024. The award validates Felda’s 2022 decision to sell back shares in Rajawali’s palm oil unit PT Eagle High Plantations, which it bought in a controversial 2016 deal. Rajawali, controlled by tycoon and former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak associate Peter Sondakh, has sought to block the enforcement in January this year, arguing that the exercise price was too high and that Felda failed to disclose that its stakes were encumbered under a facility agreement. The Singapore High Court has ruled in favor of Felda in 2024, granting an injunction to freeze Rajawali’s assets.
 

Aluminum products maker China Hongqiao Group has mandated a $300 million-equivalent loan in HKD and CNY to China CITIC Bank International and Crédit Agricole. The loan offers a margin of about HKD HIBOR +290 basis points or CNH HIBOR + 255 basis points.