China

China Huarong Asset Management has hired Richard Zhang in the newly created role of investment director to lead and oversee investment, with a focus on expanding the asset manager's offshore allocation.

Chinese authorities are set to announce a third batch of free trade zones (FTZs) this year with the preference likely falling on Western provinces. Meanwhile, the regulators have laid out more plans for the original pilot in Shanghai, aiming for the city to become the first to test full liberalisation of the capital account.

Syngenta will imminently launch into syndication its European non-recourse loan for its acquisition by ChemChina, according to a banker familiar with the deal.

Pirelli will not refinance its €6.8bn acquisition bridge loan in the bond market as planned. A torpid high yield bond market has spooked the borrower away from capital markets and back to bank loans.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has flung open the doors to China’s bond market by allowing almost all types of foreign financial institutions and asset managers to directly invest in the onshore inter-bank bond market without a quota. The move is a positive one for capital markets liberalisation but leaves a question mark over the future of schemes like QFII and RQFII.

Nasdaq-listed Jumei International Holding is planning to finance its proposed take private transaction with a combination of loans and equity.

Chinese logistics firm ZTO Express has sent out a request for proposals for an IPO that could raise as much as $1bn, according to sources.

The RMB qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) programme has been a runaway success, expanding to sixteen jurisdictions and over 150 institutions in just five years since launch, quickly catching up to the popularity of sibling programme QFII. Yet, to retain its appeal amid market volatility and the evolution of competing investment channels, it may be time for RQFII to revamp.

Bank of Qingdao is poised to keep China’s green debt momentum rolling, winning approval to issue a bond of up to Rmb8bn ($1.23bn) into the onshore debt market.

China has appointed a new chairman to its stock market regulator, who bankers hope will take a hands-off approach to governing the country’s markets.

China has become the biggest and arguably the most important capital market in Asia. The size and scope of transactions combined with the fast pace of reform is influencing capital markets well outside the country’s borders. In our first China Deals and Investment Bank of the Year Awards, we select the standout transactions and institutions. Our thanks to all those firms that took the time to pitch. Full write-ups of each award will be published in the next Asiamoney supplement in late March.

Evergrande Real Estate Group said on Monday that it has received the requisite consent from bondholders to relax terms on two of its outstanding dollar bonds.