Photos: 5th Annual Borrowers & Investors Forum North Asia

Speakers at Haymarket Media’s 5th Annual Borrowers and Investors Forum North Asia on March 6 in Hong Kong highlighted risks in the high-yield and renminbi bond markets as institutions continue their search for higher yields. (Click here for a selection of photos taken at the event.)

Institutional investors should review the quality of bond issues across the credit spectrum amid fears that the search for yield in this low-rate environment is leading to indiscriminate buying, said fund managers on one panel.

They included Kevin Anderson, head of investments for Asia Pacific at State Street Global Advisors; and Jackson Loi, head of institutional sales for Hong Kong and Taiwan at Vanguard Investments.

Meanwhile, MK Tang, senior China economist at Goldman Sachs, and Stephen Chang, head of fixed income at JP Morgan Asset Management, both aired their concerns about the renminbi bond market.

On a more positive note, speakers on another panel said that buyouts are back in Asia, with leverage for private equity deals increasingly coming from banks in the region.

“We’re definitely seeing more and more buyout deals,” says Frankie Fang, Beijing head at fund-of-funds firm LGT Capital Partners. Lindsay Chu, Asia-Pacific head of HSBC’s financial sponsors group echoed this view.