Greater China

Property management company Central China New Life carried out accelerated pre-marketing for its Hong Kong IPO this week, said a source close to the deal.

In this round-up, March trading volume soars in the onshore bond market but dips in stocks, China’s industrial profits decline sharply for the first quarter, and the securities regulator says it will not tolerate fraudulent behaviour.

China's Ebang International Holdings, a cryptocurrency mining hardware maker, is planning a US IPO that could raise up to $100m. It follows in the footsteps of Canaan Creative, which listed last November but has since seen its stock price tumble about 53%.

Chinese property developer Times China Holdings used support from reverse enquiry to seal a quick $200m bond on Monday morning that has raised questions about the unusual execution style.

Chinese software company Kingsoft Corp bagged HK$3.1bn ($399.9m) on Thursday from a five year convertible bond. It was the first equity-linked trade in Hong Kong since the coronavirus outbreak in January.

Credit Suisse has been hit hard by the alleged accounting scandal at Nasdaq-listed Luckin Coffee, which is understood to be behind one of the largest loans covered in the bank’s loan loss provisions for the first quarter of 2020.

In this round-up, Shanghai-based companies are being encouraged to take advantage of the city’s Star board, China has pledged another $30m to the World Health Organization and the State Council has urged banks to boost lending to micro and small enterprises.

In this round-up, international investors dumped Rmb208.4bn ($29.4bn) of Chinese stocks in March, and state-owned enterprises recorded a huge revenue drop in the first quarter of the year.

Shandong Qingyuan Group Co, a Chinese manufacturer and distributor of petrochemical products, is in talks with lenders to delay payment on a $1bn loan sealed last September as volatile oil prices take a toll on the company’s business.

Chinese retailer Wumei Technology Group has raised a loan of over €1bn to support its acquisition of German company Metro’s Mainland business.

Tianqi Lithium Corp’s rising debt burden since its acquisition of a stake in a Chilean mining company two years ago is causing trouble. The Chinese borrower is seeking covenant waivers and a tenor extension on part of a $3.5bn loan, raising concerns among bankers about the performance of other commodity credits amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Pan Yue reports.

Gemdale, a Chinese property company, raised the ire of investors this week when it cut the coupon on an outstanding bond by 379bp, despite documentation stating the coupon could only be increased. Rebecca Feng reports.