China

Oil trading and bunkering business Winson Group has wrapped up syndication of a $90m one year revolving credit facility.

In this round-up, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) sets the dollar-renminbi fix at a new record low, a new policy push for the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ), and the China Securities Regulatory Commission appoints two new RMB qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII). Plus, a recap of our coverage this week.

Tsinghua Unigroup made its debut in the loan market with a $300m facility this week. The early signs for the deal are positive, thanks to the sector’s sunny outlook. More business from Chinese firms in the IT equipment industry is expected as they need capital to cater to the growing demand for their products and for investments overseas. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

Export-Import Bank of China hit the debt market on Wednesday, bagging €2bn (US$2.1bn) in the largest euro deal from a Chinese borrower to date. While DCM bankers say that there’s little opportunity for arbitrage, Chexim benefited by reaching new investors. Morgan Davis reports.

China Aluminum International Engineering (Chalieco), ICBC International and Changsha Pilot all walked away with fresh funds on Wednesday, pricing their deals ahead of Thursday’s US Thanksgiving holiday.

Hong Kong is seeking to position itself as a financing hub for infrastructure in the wake of China’s Belt and Road scheme. As a result, the HKMA established the Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office (IFFO) in July 2016 to connect the organisation with financial institutions, service firms and corporates active in the sector.

In an interview with GlobalRMB, Vincent Lee, executive director, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, laid out HKMA’s plans for the future of Hong Kong as an offshore RMB hub, and for the recently created Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office (IFFO), which he oversees.

BMW Automotive Finance (China) is looking to squeeze in one last auto loan ABS this year as it prepares to launch its Rmb4bn ($581m) Bavarian Sky China 2016-2 on December 1.

Volkswagen Financial Services completed its fifth, and to date largest, Chinese auto loan asset-backed securitization fetching Rmb4bn ($581m) from its Driver China five transaction on Tuesday.

Shaanxi Xixian New Area Fengxi New City Development and Construction (Group) Co was the lone name out in the Asia dollar debt market on Thursday following a frenzied start to the week.

Ping An Real Estate raised $300m in its debut deal, relying on the security of anchor investors before opening its trade on Tuesday morning.

The renminbi did not have a good October as it was overtaken by the euro as the second most active currency for trade finance, according to Swift’s latest RMB tracker.