China

ANZ has hired a former DCM syndicate banker from Citi for its Asia bonds desk.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) plans to introduce options on the Chinese renminbi currency, as well as a US dollar/offshore renminbi contract, having gained approval from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.

The next chapter of the renminbi internationalisation process could soon be taking place in the commodities market with Amundi Asset Management predicting the rise of petro-renminbi in 2017.

Automobile parts maker Zhongding Hong Kong is back in the loans market after a year and a half for a €150m ($156.6m) three year facility.

Chinese sportswear manufacturer Xtep International Holdings has doubled the size of its latest borrowing to $200m after finding demand from a group of nine banks.

Real estate company China Aoyuan Property Group has become the first issuer in Asia ex-Japan to launch a dollar bond in 2017, marketing a three year on Wednesday.

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co and KWG Property Holding raised a combined $515m at the tail end of last week, just before the start of what many anticipate to be a busy year for Chinese property debt issuance.

Chinese property developer Modern Land (China) Co and textile producer Shandong Ruyi Technology Group Co priced their respective taps at the end of last week, taking advantage of regulatory approvals that expired at the year end.

Allocations are out for a $150m three year loan for a subsidiary of Chinese electro-acoustic product maker Goertek, which gathered commitments from 10 banks during syndication.

Welcome back and Happy New Year. While we were on a break, China revised its official trade-weighted currency basket, added two new RMB qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII) and set stricter rules for the individual quota of foreign exchange (FX) purchases that reset on January 1.

ANZ and CIMB have both revealed plans to sell their respective stakes in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB) and Bank of Yingkou, as part of strategies to focus on their core businesses.

Chinese property developer Cifi Holdings (Group) Co has raised $530m from a multi-currency club loan.