The lackluster demand for Asian dollar bonds is likely to recover as investors who shunned weaker quality notes during the turbulent final quarter of 2018 now see them as too cheap to ignore.

Overall orders fell in the last three months of last year, with demand skewed toward quality names as investors sought shelter amid the worst sell-off in a decade. Yields on Asian junk bonds surged to a seven-year high of 9 percent at the end of November. However, the rout offers a window of opportunity to look for bargains, according to Aberdeen Standard Investments.

A rebound in investor demand is crucial for Asian borrowers this year where they will face a test of endurance given their heavy refinancing needs, especially Chinese companies that are grappling with $105 billion of maturing notes. Asia dollar bond sales may total USD 250 billion to USD 300 billion in 2019, according to a Bloomberg survey.

The amount of orders for high-grade dollar bonds priced in Asia excluding Japan compared with the actual deal sizes between October and December rose to 4.1 times from 3.7 times the prior quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg where deal statistics are available. The so-called subscription ratio for high-yield notes in the same period eased to 1.9 times from 4.1 times.

Chinese real estate firms, which accounted for more than two thirds of the high-yield dollar notes in the region, received orders for 2.6 times the actual issue size in the last quarter, the lowest demand since at least the first quarter of 2016, the data show. But investors including Loomis Sayles Investments Asia Pte., Nikko Asset Management and Triada Capital Ltd. are now seeing opportunities in the developers’ bonds.

Source: Bloomberg.com