China

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co started the new year by tackling its upcoming bond maturity head on, selling a $500m note on Thursday to refinance a February deal.

In this round-up, US and China agreed to hold trade talks in Beijing early next week, the central bank loosened the definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (Nafmii) appointed a new party chief.

China Kepei Education will launch investor education for its Hong Kong IPO next week, according to a source close to the transaction.

China Everbright Greentech, an environmental protection service provider under China Everbright International, is testing lenders’ appetite for a HK$800m ($102m) syndicated loan.

Companies usually park their reserves of cash in staid, low-yielding liquid assets. But asset managers are trying to persuade them to invest some of that money differently, in a way that could help them live up to their environmental commitments.

Several Chinese borrowers ventured into the bond market at the end of December, locking up last-minute deals that were mainly supported by anchor orders.

JP Morgan brings back healthcare banker — Malaysia slaps first 1MDB charges on Goldman

Asian bond issuers are set to face a test of endurance in 2019, given their huge refinancing requirements. While the market will still be open, risks of defaults loom large over DCM bankers and investors, writes Addison Gong.

The Hang Seng Index’s appalling start to the new year has made ECM bankers and investors ultra-cautious about the market, and most participants are taking a wait-and-see approach. Christie Ou reports.

Is pricing in the Asian loan syndications market finally bottoming out? All the signs for an uptick in margins this year are there, writes Pan Yue.

Considerably cheap valuations have made Weimob, a Tencent Holdings-backed company that is on the road with its Hong Kong IPO, an attractive proposition for equity investors, according to a source close to the listing.

In the first round-up of 2019, China’s economy slowed further in December, renminbi-denominated central bank reserves fell in the third quarter of last year, and the US and China exchanged some positive signals on trade.