Goldman Sachs

Chinese technology giant Xiaomi Corp kicked off bookbuilding for its up to HK$48bn ($6.1bn) Hong Kong IPO on Thursday, set to be the largest globally in nearly two years, after a series of twists and turns that put it firmly on the market’s radar. Jonathan Breen reports.

Finnvera has become the first European SSA borrower to print a five year dollar benchmark since early March, picking up $1bn with a Reg S/144A benchmark.

Goldman Sachs has appointed Cai Wei as co-head of its China investment banking division, the bank's first China partner hire from outside the firm, according to an internal memo.

BMC Software, the US IT firm, has revealed the loan leg of the funding for its leveraged buyout by KKR, a $4.4bn facility in dollars and euros. It is the first multi-billion leveraged loan deal for four weeks, after a battery of large offerings early in May.

Finnvera is set to bring a deal in what has become a rare tenor in dollars, after mandating banks on Tuesday for a five year Reg S/144A benchmark.

Smartphone and devices manufacturer Xiaomi Corp has put the China Depository Receipt (CDR) portion of its $10bn IPO on hold, opting to list in Hong Kong first.

CYBG has agreed to buy Virgin Money for £1.7bn, paving the way for a new major challenger bank on the UK high street. The combined bank will be strong in mortgages but have only £7.6bn of corporate and SME loans.

Xiaomi Corp has said that about half of its expected $10bn dual listing in Hong Kong and China will come from the offering of China Depositary Receipts to Mainland investors.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

The week began with that rarest of things in recent times, a welcoming political backdrop. It was marred, however, by monetary policy meetings from the two most important central banks in the world. While the US Federal Reserve’s second rate hike of the year was a foregone conclusion, it caused the dollar curve to flatten still further, making the euro market even more fertile funding territory than it has been for SSAs. But even so, euros had its own struggles this week, facing what one head of SSA syndicate called “one of the most important and unpredictable European Central Bank meetings for a long time”. Lewis McLellan reports.

Public sector borrowers looking for dollar funding are likely to have to go even shorter than they have been used to after this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting, said SSA bankers.

Turkey’s Garanti bank has sold its first ever social bond, a $75m private placement. The International Finance Corporation purchased the bond as part of its Banking on Women Programme.