China

China Water Affairs has allocated its latest loan of $200m, doubling the deal size after a score of lenders formed the syndicate.

There was shock this week in the offshore market when CNH Hong Kong interbank offered rate (CNH Hibor) reached a record high overnight of 66.8% on January 12. The dramatic move was a result of the People’s Bank of China interventions to stop people shorting the currency, FX traders told GlobalRMB.

Volkswagen kicked off the Chinese auto ABS market this week, raising Rmb2.99bn ($460m) from the sector’s tightest priced transaction yet.

Saudi Aramco and China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) are in talks for a new money loan for the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Co (Yasref), according to bankers.

Standard Chartered has firmed up the management structure of its global capital markets team led by Henrik Raber, as the bank divvies up responsibilities based on regions and products.

A second batch of six foreign central banks, agencies and supranational institutions have completed registration with the China foreign exchange trading system (CFETS), and gained access to China’s onshore FX market, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) said in an announcement on January 12.

China's Evergrande Real Estate Group navigated cautious markets and a rating downgrade on Monday with a reverse enquiry-driven bond that came with a fixed price. Bankers on the deal said it was a win-win for both the issuer and investors, given the volatile conditions.

The CNH-CNY FX gap has narrowed sharply in the wake of Monday's HIBOR fixing spike. In CNY swaps, easing concerns about further yuan depreciation have dampened short-end paying interest and the 1s/5s curve slope has steepened slightly, by Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

There were dramatic moves in the offshore renminbi market on the morning of January 12 as the spread between onshore RMB (CNY) and offshore RMB (CNH) all but disappeared. And, in a radical development, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) purchases of CNH in Hong Kong drove the overnight CNH Hong Kong interbank offered rate (CNH Hibor) to a record 66.8%.

Ping An Life Insurance Company of China started building books for its inaugural dollar bond on Tuesday, while South Korea’s Woori Bank and China Energy Reserve and Chemicals Group are also wooing investors for their respective dollar deals.

China’s A-share market may be experiencing huge volatility this year, but Taiwan investors, are gaining more access investing in Chinese companies as new ETF tracking the Chinese SMEs join the growing suite of ETF products on Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE).

A $100m syndicated loan for China Water Affairs Group has closed with over 10 banks piling in, prompting the borrower to consider doubling the size of the deal.