Asia Pacific

Nio, the Chinese electric car company, has launched bookbuilding for a convertible bond that will be worth as much as $650m, according to a source close to the deal.

The securities market in Hong Kong will fully transform into a paperless model as early as 2022, in the hope of speeding up transactions, according to a joint consultation proposal made by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEX).

Fosun International, China Grand Automotive Services and China Molybdenum Co rushed out to the offshore bond market on Monday, helping kick-start a rush of issuance before Chinese New Year.

‘Tier two’ and ‘sustainability’ are labels that have never previously been combined in Asia. At least not until this week, when Kookmin Bank raised $450m from a Basel III-compliant deal.

Bank of China’s Rmb40bn ($5.9bn) perpetual bond has opened up a possible path for other banks with similar funding needs, but smaller banks may still find it hard to attract investors, said analysts and bankers this week. Widening the scope of perpetual bonds so that insurance companies can purchase them will be key to solving the problem.

There was a wall of supply from Chinese property companies at the start of the week. Road King Infrastructure and Yuzhou Properties brought a pair of callable four year bonds, but Jingrui Holdings and Fantasia Holdings Group both stuck to the very short-end of the curve.

Chinese new economy company Maoyan Entertainment priced its Hong Kong IPO this week, after a short delay that allowed it to add a high-profile cornerstone investor. Don’t let the deal’s bottom-of-the-range pricing fool you: the company and its banks made the right move.

CDC, a development financial institution, has hired a former regional head of global banking at Standard Chartered to mobilise investment in developing countries.

Last-minute help from China’s regulators allowed Bank of China to sell the first perpetual bond from a Mainland commercial bank, with the Rmb40bn ($5.94bn) note more than twice subscribed.

In this round-up, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) hired from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for its top job, Sinopec’s trading arm revealed a substantial trading loss for last year, and the annual report from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) shows growth in both bond volumes and investor type.

Yoma Strategic Holdings has become the first company from Myanmar to sell an international bond, raising the equivalent of $70m in the Thai baht market.

Chinese firm Maoyan Entertainment has sealed its IPO at the bottom of guidance, raising HK$1.96bn ($249.8m) in Hong Kong after an extended roadshow.