Asia Pacific

In this round-up, profits at industrial firms in China surge for the first two months of the year, onshore credit rating agencies face increased scrutiny, and local governments are required to manage debt risks at local state-owned enterprises in a better way.

Kaisa Group Holdings, a Chinese real estate developer, is planning to tap shareholders for a HK$2.73bn ($351.1m) rights issue.

The financial markets’ stance on climate change has taken a stride forward as 43 asset managers with $23tr of assets including some of the biggest such as BlackRock and Vanguard have joined the Net Zero Asset Managers’ Initiative. A critical mass of investors is now committed to reducing carbon emissions in their portfolios to zero, meaning that companies can be in no doubt which way they have to go if they want to maximise their potential investor base.

Magnum Opus Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), has raised $200m from a New York Stock Exchange IPO.

In this round-up, China’s State Council assigns tasks to different regulatory bodies to implement the government’s goals for this year, the central bank confirms its policy stance of ‘no sharp turns’, and Haitong Securities is punished for allegedly failing to control risks.

Power Construction Corp of China priced its $500m bond 20bp inside of fair value this week, taking advantage of the rarity value of perpetual notes from the country’s state-owned companies.

Shriram Transport Finance Co caught an opportune time to print a $225m tap of a bond on Thursday, with the response to its deal reflecting investor preference for strong Indian credits.

Casino operator MGM China Holdings added more liquidity to its balance sheet this week with a $750m bond outing.

Chinese question-and-answer platform Zhihu has raised $522.5m from its US IPO, after pricing the deal at the bottom of the marketed range, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Chinese firm Linklogis has thrown open the book for its Hong Kong IPO, aiming to pocket up to HK$8.28bn ($1.06bn).

The Covid pandemic has delayed a lot of progress in the capital markets, but bankers say the industry is still on track to meet Libor transition deadlines. Investors have consented to the Bank of Nova Scotia transitioning the basis of its sterling covered bond from Libor to Sonia, while Westpac is seeking consent.

The US securities regulator has introduced rules that would delist foreign companies from local stock exchanges if they do not comply with US auditing standards. Shares in Chinese companies dual listed in Hong Kong and the US dived following the move.