Asia Pacific

In this round-up, the Chinese banking and insurance regulator fines three commercial lenders, the People’s Bank of China reviews the implementation of its monetary policy in the first quarter, and the pace of local governments selling bonds moderates in April.

Monday started on a quiet note for Asia’s bond market, with Indonesia’s Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) the only issuer to venture out. While deal windows are open, bankers say that borrowers are taking it slow.

Chinese hotel company Huazhu Group has returned to the equity-linked market, raising $450m from a bond convertible into its American Depository Shares (ADS).

Genius Auto Finance, a joint venture between Geely Automobile and BNP Paribas Personal Finance, is planning to kick off a Rmb4bn ($565m) auto loan ABS deal on Thursday.

Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur has sent out a request for proposals for a loan to back its acquisition of instant noodle maker Pinehill Company.

Hong Kong’s citizens are slowly returning to the office as the special administrative region loosens its Covid-19 linked restrictions. But as the world continues to battle the pandemic, bond syndicate teams are continuing to take a flexible approach to work, with some predicting a longer-term future of remote roadshows and hot-desking at banks.

Chinese company Kingsoft Cloud Holdings has raised $510m after boosting the size of its Nasdaq float.

China has made some much-needed changes to rules for foreign investors using the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme and its renminbi sister scheme, reviving some of the appeal of these access programmes.

In this round-up, China’s foreign exchange reserves see an unexpected rise last month, export data improves but imports drop, and the central bank is planning to issue three month and one year renminbi bills in Hong Kong next week.

Chinese technology company Lenovo Group took advantage of improving sentiment and small new issue premiums on recent deals to reopen a dollar bond sold in April. It raised $350m from the tap on Thursday, but investor interest was quite muted.

In this round-up, the US refuses to back down from accusing China of covering up the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, but despite the rising tensions, top trade officials from the countries spoke on Friday morning.

China YuHua Education Corp’s controlling shareholder raised HK$1.58bn ($203.8m) from a block sale of the company's shares on Thursday evening. The firm's stock slumped nearly 10% after the transaction.