Citi

Outrage at the destruction of the Amazon rainforest — which often involves dispossessing indigenous people — is common among capital markets executives. But few realise that their own firms are financing it.

Chinese financial technology company Ant Group has sealed the world’s largest ever IPO, raising $34.4bn from dual listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The company built two mammoth order books despite a turbulent week for equity markets globally — although that created serious challenges for bankers allocating the stock. Jonathan Breen reports.

South Korea’s Kookmin Bank used a Covid-19 sustainability bond label for its $500m bank capital deal on Wednesday.

Indian software firm Hexaware Technologies has wrapped up a $600m loan to fund its take-private by Baring Private Equity Asia.

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, one of China’s largest private education companies, has kicked off bookbuilding for a Hong Kong secondary listing worth around $1.4bn.

The announcement this week of two acquisitions involving European and emerging market companies has cheered loans bankers who have been missing big M&A tickets because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Galaxy Pipeline Assets Bidco, a group of international investors that provided Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) with $8bn in a pipeline partnership deal earlier this year, has raised a $4bn triple tranche bond to refinance half of the loan that funded the team-up. The deal is, according to banks, the largest project bond ever raised.

Korea Land & Housing Corp has broken a six-year absence from the dollar debt market to raise $300m from a social bond.

Krafton, a popular South Korean video game developer, has mandated banks for its 2021 IPO.

Chinese financial technology company Ant Group is set to raise $34.3bn from the world’s largest ever IPO, after covering the deal within minutes of launch.

Compagnie Générale des Etablissements Michelin, the French tyre company, won more than €10bn of demand for its €1.5bn bond issue on Monday. Now a growing number of corporate bankers expect to see European high grade spreads return to pre-Covid 19 levels.

Gland Pharma, a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, has won approval for its IPO from India’s securities regulator, according to a source close to the deal.