Greater China

Local government financing vehicle (LGFV) Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone State-Owned Assets Investment doubled the size of a 2022 bond on Thursday, while another Chinese issuer Zhongtai Financial International walked away with $200m from a sub-one year note.

In this round-up, Chinese president Xi Jinping starts a five-day visit to Europe, the eighth and ninth rounds of trade talks are scheduled and local government bonds will soon be available at bank counters.

In this round-up, Shanghai tech board has started accepting IPO applications, new issuance of local government bonds hits record, fiscal revenue growth slowed thanks to tax cuts

Chinese menswear company Mulsanne Group Holding is planning to list in Hong Kong, having filed a draft prospectus with the city’s stock exchange.

CLSA took a hit this week after its long-serving chief executive officer, Jonathan Slone, and the bank’s chief operating officer both resigned, barely two weeks after chairman Tang Zhenyi also quit. The firm is caught in a struggle with its Chinese state-backed owner, Citic Securities, with the pair’s different approaches to investment banking a major sticking point. Jonathan Breen reports.

Chinese property company KWG Group Holdings closed a $350m bond tap this week, coming to the market just a week before it was due to report earnings. That led to a sharp disagreement between bankers over the practice of launching deals during a blackout period. Morgan Davis reports.

China’s Minsheng Financial Leasing Co reintroduced bonds backed by loans to the Asian market this week, but the revival of such a rare structure for the region comes with challenges and concerns.

With many Asian companies readying their earnings in their respective blackout periods, a trickling of Chinese property bonds have kept debt investors busy.

Bestway Global Holding this week became the latest Chinese debutante to find the offshore loan market tough going, falling short of its intended deal size. Debut names will face worse market access this year and will need to rely upon guarantees, onshore banking relationships and the reputation of their industry sector to have the best chance of securing international money, writes Pan Yue.

UP Fintech raised $104m from its Nasdaq IPO this week after pricing its float above the initial marketing range.

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has raised D2.33tr ($100.9m) after increasing a block sale of Vincom Retail shares.

BMW Auto Finance on Tuesday brought its biggest Chinese auto loan ABS since its market debut five years ago. The Rmb 5.5bn ($820m) deal, said bankers, showed that the market will boom this year.