Citi

Alibaba Group Holding has kicked off its up to $13.4bn Hong Kong IPO, set to be the largest listing on the bourse for nearly a decade. Bankers are confident the deal will be a success, but they are navigating challenging times in the city’s stock market, which plunged this week as violence during protests escalated. Jonathan Breen reports.

Volkswagen Finance (China) has returned to the Chinese auto loan ABS market after a two-year break. The company priced the senior tranche of its Rmb5.97bn ($851) deal at the lower end of guidance.

China Merchants Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust has kicked off a pre-deal investor roadshow for its Hong Kong SAR listing. It is set to break a six-year drought of Reit IPOs on the bourse.

The Arab Republic of Egypt had clocked up more than $9bn of demand for its triple tranche bond trade by lunch time on Wednesday.

One Middle Eastern bank is in the market with a sukuk additional tier one note, while a second announced it will go on the road for its own AT1.

Alibaba Group Holdings got the greenlight from Hong Kong's stock exchange for a listing that could be worth as much as $15bn. The deal looks set to receive strong anchor demand from Chinese investors.

AIB Group has wasted little time in accessing the debt markets for subordinated capital. It launched a tier two bond this week, little over a month after selling an additional tier one (AT1) bond, adding to its minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

Egypt is in market promoting a new deal: three tranches of benchmark dollar funding. Its 40 year tranche will be Egypt’s longest ever deal.

Italian crossover credit Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione, a real estate company, has hired banks for a sub-benchmark bond issue and tender offer, as roadshow calendars remain packed with deals.

Citigroup is forming a new EMEA sustainable banking team and has hired a senior sustainable banking expert who had spent two years away from the firm, working for a supranational.

High grade dollar bond investors are braced for the biggest deal of the year after AbbVie, the pharmaceutical company, appointed a trio of banks to lead a possible $25bn issue that could come as soon as Monday.

A pair of public sector borrowers hit the dollar market this week, pulling off strong deals at three and five years. Both enjoyed a clear field as euro-based borrowers stuck to their home currency thanks to an unpalatable basis swap rate.