China

Dollar bonds sold by Chinese high yield property companies recovered from their trading lows at the end of January to become some of the highest performing notes in Asia last week. While that has created some positive momentum for the deals set to come to the market soon, analysts remain cautious.

Bank of Singapore, the private banking arm of OCBC Bank, has created a new job of head of wealth planning for Greater China and North Asia, giving the position to an ex-HSBC banker.

In this round-up, the presidents of China and the US held a phone call amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Mainland central bank is on track to issue its first renminbi bills of the year in Hong Kong next week, and regulators are giving issuers more time to prepare for their bonds.

Blank cheque firm Citic Capital Acquisition Corp has kicked off bookbuilding for a $200m IPO. The special purpose acquisition company (Spac) is targeting green investments.

Chinese ship financing company CSSC (Hong Kong) Shipping Co took advantage of the risk-on sentiment in the market on Thursday to take home an $800m dual-tranche bond.

EMEA equity capital markets roared back into life this week, as fears over a potential coronavirus pandemic abated to allow the blocks market to reopen in size. A huge slug of supply on Monday evening that traded up left investors hungry for more, report Sam Kerr and Aidan Gregory.

A mix of Chinese policy banks, hospital builders and pharmaceuticals companies have put the domestic bond market to use to combat the coronavirus outbreak as the death toll nears 600. More mainland issuers are also readying deals as the country’s regulators introduce a faster registration process for such issuance, write Addison Gong and Rebecca Feng.

Central China Real Estate manoeuvred its way around China’s offshore bond issuance regulations on Wednesday by marketing a sub-one year note. The deal made Central China the first mainland property company to sell a bond in the wake of the coronavirus volatility.

The outbreak of the coronavirus has added to challenges in a surprising part of Asia’s capital markets — loan syndications, typically known for being resilient and slower to be hit by global worries. But as Pan Yue reports, new loan launches have been put on the backburner and roadshows are being cancelled. Bankers are expecting more covenant waivers and difficulties in building their client base.

Sixteen banks led Baa2/BBB rated Huatai Securities Co's $400m floating rate transaction on Wednesday.

Asian issuers found strong response to their dollar bonds on Wednesday, coming to the market after a rough start to the week on the back of the coronavirus-related volatility. As investors show their willingness to take on risk again, debt bankers are optimistic the pressure on the market will be lifted before long, writes Morgan Davis.

Chinese hotel company Huazhu Group, previously known as China Lodging Group, has closed its borrowing of about $1bn with 13 banks.