China

After months of anticipation, the Philippines is finally planning to come to the Panda bond market on March 20 for a Rmb1.46bn ($230m) three year deal.

China’s Xinyuan Real Estate Co has sold a par-priced $200m deal, paying one of the highest coupons for a public dollar bond in Asia so far this year.

China has brought its banking and insurance watchdogs under one roof, a move in line with its plans to consolidate government departments. The People’s Bank of China is set to gain an even broader mandate as a result of the change.

As he heads towards the exit, Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, is not only handing over the baton of RMB internationalisation to his successor, but to market participants as well. He also insisted the central bank will not let risk prevention get in the way of further reform.

China Boqi Environmental Holdings has raised HK$605.2m ($77.2m) after pricing its IPO at the bottom of guidance, according to a source close to the deal.

Four Asian issuers began marketing dollar deals on Monday, as a number of others started testing buy-side appetite through roadshows. But borrowers will have to temper their expectations on size and price, faced with a choppy market backdrop.

China Eastern Airlines Corp has raised ¥50bn ($468m) in Tokyo’s Pro-Bond market, breaking new ground in Japan with a standby letter of credit (SBLC) structure. Some bankers reckon the deal could be the first of many to come.

A $200m borrowing for Citic Pacific has been allocated among six Taiwanese banks, with sole lead Fubon Bank keeping most of the loan on its books.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) lifts restrictions on foreign investors seeking a majority stake in local securities firms, lawmakers consent to move to scrap the two-term presidential limit, and the Chinese commerce minister says the country will not fight a trade war with the US.

Dongfeng Nissan Auto Finance stuck to the strategy from its last transaction in October 2017 — of selling a fixed-rate note accompanied by a floating-rate tranche — as it returned to the Chinese asset-backed securities market on Thursday, raising Rmb4.5bn ($709.2m).

In the third of a four-part series of articles on China’s financial transformation, cash management experts tell GlobalRMB the wheels are again in motion for foreign corporations in China to move past nearly three years of strict capital controls that have all but killed their intent of using the country as a regional treasury hub.

Gas supplier Air Liquide raised Rmb2.2bn ($347m) from its first Panda bond on March 6, becoming the first European issuer sell a bond with a maturity of longer than three years in the asset class.