Banks

The Emirate of Sharjah, which last entered markets this June with a Formosa bond, approached investors this week to raise $250m from a tap.

Ping An Insurance-backed Lufax Holdings has covered its $2.36bn US listing. Global heavyweight investors flocked to the long-awaited deal.

Chinese biotechnology firm JW (Cayman) Therapeutics is set to close the book for its Hong Kong IPO on Tuesday, a daily earlier than planned, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Chinese financial technology company Ant Group is set to raise $34.3bn from the world’s largest ever IPO, after covering the deal within minutes of launch.

Deutsche Bank has grown its environmental, social and governance (ESG) team in Asia Pacific with a new hire.

South Africa's Standard Bank, which is 20% owned by ICBC, has raised a syndicated loan from a consortium of Chinese lenders. The transaction marks one of the few spots of activity in a market that has almost halved in size this year.

Daa, the operator of two Irish airports, and Swedish telecoms company Tele2 have mandated for bonds, as the market goes into near-hibernation during corporate earnings blackouts.

Compagnie Générale des Etablissements Michelin, the French tyre company, won more than €10bn of demand for its €1.5bn bond issue on Monday. Now a growing number of corporate bankers expect to see European high grade spreads return to pre-Covid 19 levels.

The European Investment Bank hit screens on Monday afternoon to announce what will be its final benchmark deal of the year, with the issuer set to use every inch of its €70bn borrowing authorisation for 2020.

Ronald Hinterkircher, who is retiring from the Swiss franc bond market after a 40 year career, has told GlobalCapital that digitalisation and the possible removal of the withholding tax for foreign investors could change the market over the next few years. But with the European Central Bank propping up the euro bond market, arbitrage opportunities for international companies in Swiss francs are vanishingly slim.

Additional tier one supply has already surpassed expectations in 2020, with the asset class on course for its second busiest year of all time.

A number of MTN investors are waiting for the result of the US election before committing themselves to the market, meaning next week is set to be a quiet one.