China

Subway operator Tianjin Rail Transit Group has raised a €200m Schuldschein loan, becoming the first Chinese company to tap this market. Bankers believe similar deals will follow, given the market’s appeal.

The local government has thrown a lifeline to Qinghai Provincial Investment Group Co, helping it pay off a dollar bond coupon a week after it was due. But more looming payment deadlines are set to cause the company a headache. Addison Gong reports.

The onshore renminbi plunged to 7.17 against the dollar by noon on Thursday from the previous week’s close at 7.07. While much of the loss was a result of a spike in tensions between the US and China, analysts and bankers are also blaming the mainland’s looser FX intervention policies and growing distrust of US president Donald Trump’s comments. Rebecca Feng reports.

DCM bankers in Asia have used a quiet August to prepare new bond deals for next month. But despite most bankers’ optimism that the coming weeks will be busy, many believe the second half of 2019 will be quiet compared with the same time last year as the market gets battered by volatility. Morgan Davis reports.

Foreign banks can now get a licence to act as lead underwriters for all deals in China’s domestic interbank bond market, signalling a further opening up of the Mainland’s financial market. But these licences will only make a marginal difference to a bank’s business.

Shanghai Henlius Biotech, which is being spun off by Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co, started gauging investor interest for its Hong Kong IPO on Monday, despite a choppy market.

Megvii Technology, a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company best known for the facial recognition platform Face++, has set the ball rolling for its dual-class share listing in Hong Kong.

China Industrial Securities International Financial Group kick-started the new week for the debt market with a $200m bond on Monday.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has approved the appointments of a number of directors at JP Morgan’s new China securities joint venture, including its head of investment banking.

The liquidity situation at China’s Qinghai Provincial Investment Group Co has taken a turn for the worse after the company missed a dollar bond coupon last week. A treasurer at the government-owned issuer denied media reports that it made the overdue payment last Friday.

China’s Joy City Property has returned to the loan market for an up to $800m facility.

In this round-up, the tit-for-tat trade tariff situation between the US and China escalated over the weekend, and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) issued detailed rules for benchmarking mortgage borrowers to the recently unveiled loan benchmark rates.