China

Yangtze River Development is looking to raise as much as $57.5m for a project in Wuhan, China, by listing on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a filing with the US regulator.

In this round-up, PBoC sets a volatile fix for USD/CNY suggesting it has changed its methodology again, JP Morgan AM gets approval for a new MRF product, BlackRock boosts holdings in Chinese ADRs by 500% and Safe plans more RMB convertibility schemes in FTZs. Plus, a recap of the top GlobalRMB stories this week.

The question of where next for the renminbi continues to be the subject of fevered speculation and speculators as China spends billions to support the currency. The most likely scenario is that China will do more to curb capital outflows, but there is a growing possibility it could allow a free float of the currency, according to the senior investment team at Nikko Asset Management.

China’s first revolving auto ABS successfully priced this week with SAIC-GMAC Automotive Finance bagging Rmb3bn ($456m) from the landmark Rongteng 2016-1 Retail Auto Mortgage Loan Securitization.

SAIC-GMAC is poised to become the third issuer in the China auto ABS market this year. But the auto finance company has set its sights on a landmark trade, opening books on the country’s first auto ABS with a revolving structure.

Confidence in holding RMB assets may have hit rock bottom with no new incentives from regulators to boost the market, but Geoff Lewis, senior strategist at Manulife Asset Management, believes there are silver linings for those with an investment horizon of 12 months or more.

After two years of promoting renminbi internationalisation at full speed, Chinese regulators have put on the brakes as they go to extraordinary lengths to stop the currency leaving the country. Could RMB internationalisation become RMB re-nationalisation in 2016?

China Oriental Group has increased the tender price on its offer to repurchase all or a portion of its dollar-denominated bonds.

Standard Chartered’s Renminbi Globalisation Index (RGI) fell 2.1% month-on-month in December, bringing 2015 full-year change to minus 0.2%, the first annual decline since the index started in 2012.

Chinese pharmaceutical company Hutchison China MediTech (Chi-Med) has picked a quartet of co-managers for a $100m listing on the Nasdaq.

Happy Year of the Monkey from GlobalRMB. In this round-up, the Singapore Exchange and the Moscow Exchange see sustained activity in RMB spot and derivatives contracts in January 2016, KraneShares plans a new RQFII China bond exchange traded fund (ETF), and the UK appoints a vice-president for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Currency and tenor have been left open in the RFP for Russia’s first sovereign bond since 2013. Recommendations to print in dollars are expected to dominate and some have said that a renminbi tranche is a possibility. But the RFP has aroused suspicion that it could be a ruse to raise funding for sanctioned entities.