Asia ex-Japan's debt capital markets experienced one of the best years in 2018 in terms of issuance volume in the international market. Last year, total bond issuance amounted to $349.7 billion, trailing only 2017 when a record-breaking $414.3 billion worth of bonds were issued.
However, it was not as promising as it may seem in terms of variety of issuers.
This is because debut bond issuance dropped by over one-third year-on-year in 2018, with $35.99 billion issued compared to $56.53 billion in 2017.
The number of bond deals from first-time issuers dropped to 103 last year, down from 131 in 2017....