Greater China

CLSA has hired Charles Lin, the former Asia chief executive of Vanguard Group, as its new vice chairman effective immediately, the bank announced on Monday.

In this round-up, the People’s Bank of China cuts the one year and five year loan prime rates (LPRs), Moody’s lowers its outlook for Chinese property developers to negative and Wuhan’s new death toll from Covid-19 is 50% higher than originally reported.

Lenovo Group took a cautious approach to its $650m bond issuance last Friday, opting for size instead of price and offering investors a hefty premium for its deal.

Credit Suisse has received approval for a 51% stake in its China securities joint venture (JV), joining a handful of foreign bank peers in taking control of their onshore units.

Akesobio has bagged HK$2.58bn ($332.9m) from its IPO after sealing the trade at the top of the marketed price range, according to a banker on the deal.

Chinese property firm Country Garden Holdings Company is wooing lenders to a $140m loan to support its investments in two start-ups.

Kingsoft Cloud Holdings has launched a virtual pre-deal investor education process for its $100m Nasdaq IPO, according to a source close to the deal.

The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (Nafmii) has made fresh efforts to reform the bond issuance process in China. It is giving some issuers more flexibility around their fundraising plans and the way they can execute deals.

In this round-up, China’s economy shrinks for the first time since records started, exports and imports fall in March but rebound from recent lows, and the State Council will further develop the country’s capital markets.

In this round-up, China’s ambassador to the US said the two countries have been working towards implementing the trade agreement reached in January, and the UK’s foreign secretary said hard questions need to be asked about the Covid-19 pandemic.

China National Travel Service Group Corp (CNT) raised $900m from a dual-tranche bond on Thursday, making it the first Chinese state-owned enterprise to come to the market in more than a month.

Chinese local government financing vehicle (LGFV) Qinghai Provincial Investment Group Co has missed a coupon payment on a dollar bond yet again as its financial troubles continue.