China

Property companies Country Garden Holdings Co (CoGard), Times Property Holdings, Tahoe Group Co and Wharf Real Estate Investment Company hit the dollar debt market in force on Tuesday.

The European Investment Bank is set to bring its first core currency trade of the year, after hiring banks on Monday for a March 2023 global dollar benchmark. Despite a strong start to the year for the currency last week, no other dollar deals from SSAs are on screen — but a new issuer could join in the next few months.

A $5.5bn senior secured loan to refinance China National Chemical Corp’s (ChemChina) outstanding debt has been launched into general syndication by 16 mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Chinese state-owned coal miner Yankuang Group Company wrapped up the first week of 2018 with a quick tap of its debut bond, raising $300m on Friday.

Westpac Banking Corp is poised to sell the first offshore renminbi bond of the year, opening books for a three year trade on Monday.

Country Garden Holdings Company (CoGard) and SEA Holdings are planning their comebacks to the offshore debt market, while Wharf Real Estate Investment Co is set to test its luck with accounts for the first time.

Chinese financial regulators publish fresh rules on the bond market to control leverage, China’s FX reserves grow again to $3.14tr in December, and Bank of China completes a RMB salary payment for Chinese diplomats abroad after the central bank’s call to push for cross-border RMB transactions.

Longfor Properties Co returned to the dollar market on Monday for its second investment grade deal in six months.

JP Morgan launched on Thursday January 4 the first European equity-linked bond of the year: a $350m bond exchangeable into shares of Dufry, the Swiss duty free retailer. The deal is designed to hedge derivatives positions the bank already held on Dufry shares.

The People’s Bank of China announces new rules to promote cross-border RMB transactions, HSBC plans to launch a new service in Poland to capture business opportunities related to the Belt and Road Initiative, and Agricultural Bank of China obtained approvals for new branches in Southeast Asia.

China has relaxed access to the onshore renminbi (CNY) foreign exchange market for overseas banks based in Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Thailand, all countries that fall under the Belt and Road initiative, GlobalRMB has learned.

With growing demand for overseas investment, Chinese regulators could release new outbound investment quotas in 2018 by rebooting the qualified domestic institutional investor (QDII) programme and launching a two-way ETF Connect with Hong Kong.