Asia Pacific

Hong Kong's IPO market relies heavily on Chinese issuers for deal flow, and with them a force of cornerstone investors. A much needed shake-up to the cosy cornerstone base is expected, thanks to new regulations by China’s foreign exchange regulator. But for those who view the change as a possible solution, the rules are likely to prove disappointing.

Chinese toll road operator and property developer Road King Infrastructure took advantage of investor desire for high yielding paper on Monday, offering a rare perpetual, fixed for life deal that still attracted a book that was more than 15 times subscribed.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Bank of Communications (BoCom), enjoyed success with their decision to jump on the floating rate note (FRN) bandwagon on Monday, via their Hong Kong branches. The former bagged $2bn from a triple-tranche offering and the latter $850m from a three year floater.

Recent capital control measures enacted by China have led to concerns that the authorities might be reversing past efforts to liberalise the country's financial markets. But the administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe), Pan Gongsheng, is adamant that more reforms are on the cards especially in regards to attracting more inflows.

China’s Huawei Investment & Holding Co is set to become the first G3 bond issuer from the technology sector in Asia this year, taking bids for a dual-trancher on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, property developer Ronshine China Holdings is back to tap its 2019s.

China YuHua Education Corp has hit the road to drum up demand for its Hong Kong listing, which could raise up to HK$1.9bn ($245.5m).

China Mengniu Dairy has tapped two banks for separate loans denominated in dollars and Hong Kong dollars to fund its acquisition of China Modern Dairy Holdings.

PCCW chased away the blues in Asia’s blocks market with a jumbo HK$8.53bn ($1.10bn) sell-down in subsidiary HKT last weekend — it was the region’s biggest overnight bookbuild this year.

Sogo department stores operator Lifestyle International has firmed up the bank group for a HK$9bn ($1.16bn) loan to finance a project on a plot of land it acquired last year.

The Greater China debt market started the week in full force, with Bank of Communications, ICBC and Road King Infrastructure opening books on Monday.

Indian telecom hardware company Tejas Networks is just a few steps away from its IPO, having filed a draft prospectus with the market regulator more than eight years after first proposing the idea of going public.

China’s Huawei Investment & Holding Co is gauging investor appetite for its third international bond, having picked five banks to work on the transaction.