Banks

Generic pharmaceuticals firm Teva has released price thoughts for a $1.5bn bond refinancing, which will term out its maturities. But the levels on offer show potential opioid litigation is still weighing on the firm’s capital structure. The Israeli company settled with a group of US states at the end of October, sending its shares and bonds surging, but the firm faces a trial in New York next March.

Commerzbank’s corporate clients division will focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and cross-selling over pure growth, as it continues with its latest strategic plan.

A Citi banker was arrested by Hong Kong police this week, as the protests in the city intensified.

China Development Bank hired a dozen foreign banks for its latest green bond, raising Rmb10bn ($1.4bn) from a domestic market deal that attracted major offshore demand. Rebecca Feng reports.

Alibaba Group Holding has kicked off its up to $13.4bn Hong Kong IPO, set to be the largest listing on the bourse for nearly a decade. Bankers are confident the deal will be a success, but they are navigating challenging times in the city’s stock market, which plunged this week as violence during protests escalated. Jonathan Breen reports.

China's Huali University Group launched bookbuilding on Wednesday for its Hong Kong IPO, targeting proceeds of up to HK$978m ($124.9m).

Gome Retail Holdings, a Chinese retailer of electronic appliances, has cancelled an exchange-plus-new-money transaction, after investor feedback on pricing pointed to a higher yield than it wanted to pay.

Nedbank has closed a $500m term loan, while Investec has launched its own syndicated loan, indicating that despite concerns about South Africa’s ratings outlook, its borrowers maintain access to international syndicated loans.

Volkswagen Finance (China) has returned to the Chinese auto loan ABS market after a two-year break. The company priced the senior tranche of its Rmb5.97bn ($851) deal at the lower end of guidance.

Crédit Agricole announced on Thursday a reorganisation of its global markets financing and funding solutions (FFS) division, which includes several senior job changes, including the promotions of Atul Sodhi and Jean-Luc Lamarque, reported by GlobalCapital on Wednesday.

Fabianna Del Canto, who recently left Barclays, has joined agora, the capital markets fintech founded by fellow Barclays veteran Charlie Berman.

Investors looked beyond Nanyang Commercial Bank's Hong Kong home to its Chinese parent this week, allowing the borrower to close a $700m Basel III-compliant tier two subordinated deal, despite the protests happening in the city.