Greater China

Topsports International Holdings has kicked off pre-marketing for its Hong Kong SAR listing, which is expected to raise around $1bn, according to sources close to the deal.

Dollar bond investors have shrugged off Fitch’s downgrade to the foreign currency rating of Hong Kong SAR, with local issuers also gearing up for new deals.

South Korean energy company SK E&S Co has bagged HK$5.1bn ($650.7m) after selling a block of shares in China Gas Holdings, a source close to the deal told GlobalCapital Asia.

In this round-up, JPMorgan has decided to include Chinese government bonds into its government bond index for emerging markets, Fitch downgrades Hong Kong by one notch to AA and Caixin manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) declines in August.

In this round-up, the US and China agree to meet in October in Washington, Hong Kong's chief executive formally withdraws the extradition bill and the Chinese state council is set to release local government bond quotas for 2020 early.

Six Greater China borrowers, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) and an unrated property developer, have wooed bond investors to their new dollar deals.

China’s Youyuan International Holdings, a wrapping tissue paper maker, has defaulted on a total of HK$2.6bn ($332m) of debt, including a $135m loan sealed in April.

Shenzhen Jiangtong Leasing Financial, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper Corp, is tapping the loan market for the first time for a $100m borrowing.

BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank have become the first two foreign banks to receive approvals to underwrite all bonds from non-financial corporations in the Chinese interbank market. While the new licence will expand their underwriting scope in the mainland, it is unlikely to make a big dent to their DCM businesses, or challenge state-owned banks’ dominance. Rebecca Feng reports.

Equity capital markets are abuzz in Hong Kong as issuers rush to take advantage of the first window to list since business closed for the summer. Among them, consumer finance company Home Credit and China’s Bank of Guizhou are each targeting $1bn listings.

China’s Xtep International Holdings and Suning Financial Services have closed their respective offshore borrowings.

The Chinese regulators are looking to give the country’s secondary loan market a boost by encouraging banks to use one of their platforms to trade deals. While secondary loan trading has become easier, there are still many hurdles to overcome, say experts.