China

Citic Capital Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), has filed for a $200m IPO. It is targeting companies in the energy efficiency, clean technology and sustainability sectors.

Peijia Medical and Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical Group Co have set the ball rolling for Hong Kong IPOs, having filed draft prospectuses with the city’s stock exchange.

China Aoyuan Group has closed a $230m-equivalent club loan with eight banks.

In this round-up, Chinese vice premier Han Zheng said China will further remove barriers of entry for foreign investment and lower its tariffs and Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is still waiting for a ruling on her extradition to the United States.

In this round-up, the International Monetary Fund revised its forecast on Chinese economic growth upwards to 6% in 2020, Chinese banking institutions recorded more assets but also more liabilities last year and the Securities Association of China updated its guidelines on due diligence for corporate bond underwriters.

There was a burst of activity from Chinese pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the equity capital markets this week, as the sector took centre stage following the spread of a flu-like virus that has already claimed lives on the mainland. Jonathan Breen reports.

China’s biggest clearing houses have slashed their fees for the registration of new bonds.

Sino Biopharmaceutical issued a zero coupon convertible bond on Wednesday, boosting the size to €750m as demand poured in from across Asia, Europe and the US, according to multiple sources close to the deal.

Hengda Real Estate Group Co, a subsidiary of China Evergrande Group, raised $4bn across two tranches on Tuesday, just days after Evergrande nabbed $2bn from another bond sale.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has asked questions about Founder Securities’ application to sell an onshore bond, but put a pause on approving a planned issuance by Haikou Meilan International Airport Co. Both Founder’s parent company and Meilan have missed bond payments in 2019.

Investors have been showing a clear preference for subordinated bank bonds in the primary market, with the valuations for more senior asset classes having been squeezed into extraordinarily tight levels in 2020.

Midea Group Co became the second Chinese company to be removed from the MSCI China All Shares Indexes and the MSCI Global Standard Indexes after its foreign ownership reached 28%.