Issuance of G3 bonds in Asia, outside of Japan and Australasia, in the first three months of 2025 manifested a strong increase as it surged 48.2% to US$92.84 billion, compared with US$62.63 billion in the same period a year ago.

There were a total of 163 issues during the review period, according to LSEG figures, up from 104 deals in January-March 2024. The first quarter this year ended on a high note with several deals printed in the last week of March, led by PETRONAS of Malaysia with a US$5 billion offering; MTR Corporation with US$3 billion; LG Energy Solution, US$2 billion; UOB, US$2 billion; and the Bank of the Philippine Islands ( BPI ), US$800 million.

China continues to demonstrate the recovery in G3 bond issuance as its total volume rose from US$14.67 billion to US$23.10 billion. Some of the Chinese issuers that priced deals during the first quarter included BoCom Financial Leasing with US$1 billion and Bank of China, which printed deals out of its branches in Luxembourg ( US$500 million ), Sydney ( US$500 million ) and Panama ( US$500 million ). Beijing Capital accessed the market twice in March raising a total of US$900 million, while AVIC International Leasing priced a dual-tranche transaction totalling US$800 million.

South Korea came next with a total issuance of US$21.63 billion, but this amount represented a decline of 3.6% from US$22.43 billion in the first three months of 2024. Apart from LG Energy, the other big issuances this year from this market were those from Export-Import Bank of Korea with US$3 billion in four tranches and Korea National Oil Corporation with US$1 billion in three tranches.

Hong Kong recorded a sharp increase in issuance with US$11.18 billion ( up 271.2% ), along with Singapore with US$6.49 billion ( up 152.6% ), the Philippines US$4.83 billion ( up 159.2% ) and Indonesia US$4.57 million ( up 81.1% ). Apart from the BPI deal, the Philippines’ issuance was anchored by the sovereign’s US$3.34 billion equivalent offering in January, comprised of US$2.25 billion, including a US$1 billion sustainability tranche for 25 years, and a €1 billion ( US$1.09 billion ) sustainability bond for seven years.

Malaysia saw its issuance surged from a mere US$68.62 million in the first three months of 2024 to US$5.30 billion this year on the back of the huge US$5 billion issuance by PETRONAS, which was actually upsized from the initial amount of US$3 billion.

Issuance of high-yield bonds was subdued during the first quarter of 2025, with only nine deals amounting to US$3.02 billion, up from eight deals valued at US$2.66 billion in the same period a year ago. India was on top of the league table with four deals amounting to US$1.67 billion, followed by China with two deals valued at US$650 million, Hong Kong with two deals amounting to US$352.25 million and Mongolia with one deal amounting to US$345.68 million.

Meanwhile, ESG-related bonds ( green, social, sustainability, sustainability-linked and blue ) registered a lower issuance volume of US$13.60 billion in the first quarter of 2025, compared with US$16.22 billion in comparable period a year ago. China was the biggest issuer with US$6.73 billion, followed by South Korea with US$3.48 billion, the Philippines with US$2.38 billion and India, US$1 billion.