China

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.

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.

In this round-up, China is ramping up measures to stimulate the economy including by issuing special treasury bonds, the central bank resumed open market operations and lowered the seven-day reverse repo rate, and the foreign exchange regulator has released some key data points.

Mainland-based Kangji Medical Holdings is seeking approval to list in Hong Kong. It has filed an IPO application with the city’s bourse.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have received the green lights from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to increase ownership in their Mainland joint ventures to 51%.

Property developer Soho China is in talks with banks for a bridge loan to support its potential take-private deal by private equity firm Blackstone, according to sources close to the situation.

In this round-up, Chinese industrial profits recorded the steepest drop in a decade, US president Donald Trump praised China’s understanding of Covid-19 and Hong Kong bourse’s Charles Li said closing the market is not the solution to stem sell-offs.

In this round-up, China will block foreigners from entering the country starting Saturday, residents of Hubei are allowed to leave the province after two months of being under lockdown and the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission is setting up a holding company to manage state-owned asset management companies.

Chinese local government financing vehicle Chenzhou Industry Investment Group sold a euro-denominated bond on Thursday, rounding out a week of club-like deals in Asia.