Asia Pacific

Viva China Holdings is selling a chunk of stock in sportswear manufacturer Li Ning Co worth as much as HK$1.51bn ($194.3m).

Standard Chartered’s announcement that it was allocating $1bn to help companies deal with coronavirus, or transition towards making essential medical kit, makes a virtue of doing what most banks are up to anyway. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of good news in these troubled times, but Stan Chart’s competition might feel they’ve missed a trick.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has selected six domestic securities houses to be regulated on a consolidated basis. The move will grant these firms more flexibility in risk assessment and enable them to have a higher leverage ratio.

China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) recorded a sharp rebound in March as businesses slowly resumed their activity. While the strong figures led to a rally in the stock market, economists are warning against reading too much too soon into the data as challenges remain for the country’s economy.

Credit Suisse has appointed Mark Carlile as vice-chairman of investment banking and capital markets for Australia, and Angelo Scasserra as co-head of the division.

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the Maldives to B from B+ and revised its outlook to negative from stable, as the Covid-19 pandemic hits the island nation’s tourism industry.

Hong Kong-listed Shanghai Henlius Biotech got the go ahead from its controlling shareholders on Monday for a secondary flotation on China’s Star Market.

Logan Property Holdings has joined a few Chinese real estate companies in the offshore loan market, seeking a HK$2bn ($258m) borrowing.

China-based Sunkwan Properties Group is looking to Hong Kong as a venue to go public, enlisting ABC International as the sponsor for the IPO.

New Development Bank, the Shanghai-based multilateral development bank, is planning to sell a Rmb5bn ($704m) Panda bond that will be used to provide an emergency loan to China.

Schroders has appointed new heads for Asia Pacific, tapping Chris Durack and Susan Soh to the top job.

Taiwanese banks have triggered a market disruption clause on a recent loan signed by Indonesian company BFI Finance. The move, which allows lenders to increase the margins they earn on deals, is being considered for numerous other transactions too, GlobalCapital Asia understands.