Greater China

Filippo Gori's rise up the ranks in JP Morgan's Asian team continued this week, when he was picked to succeed Nicolas Aguzin as head of Asia Pacific banking.

Chow Tai Fook has made a quick comeback to the offshore loan market, eyeing a smaller deal after closing a $1.3bn fundraising last March.

China Tian Lun Gas has closed an oversubscribed loan worth HK$2bn ($255m) after attracting 13 lenders in general syndication.

In this round-up, China and the US will talk in Beijing at the end of the week, China’s interbank payment and settlement system survived the Lunar New Year red packet frenzy and a draft of the foreign investment law will be submitted in early March.

Sino Biopharmaceutical has turned to banks for a $700m refinancing loan. It is offering the same price as it paid for the original deal, a club loan sealed in 2016.

Chinese property issuers led the reopening of Asia’s offshore bond market following a week-long holiday in the Mainland to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Investors responded to the new deals with enthusiasm.

Pinduoduo, a Nasdaq-listed Chinese e-commerce company, has raised $1.38bn from a follow-on offering.

Just six months after listing on the Nasdaq, Chinese start-up Pinduoduo is back in the equity market to raise around $1bn from a follow-on offering.

Hong Kong’s Towngas has priced a rare dollar perpetual bond, taking $300m from a deal that saw investors pump in more than $4bn in orders.

Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone State-Owned Assets Investment, a Chinese local government financing vehicle (LGFV), raised a larger-than-expected $250m from its inaugural appearance in the offshore market that was over two months in the making.

In this round-up, Bloomberg Barclays confirmed the upcoming inclusion of Chinese bonds in its indices, the People’s Bank of China will auction CNH bills in mid-February, and industrial profits in China confirmed poor ending for the economy in 2018.

In this round-up, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued plans to merge two long-standing access schemes for foreign investors, the United States Justice Department unveiled charges against Huawei just as trade talks were set to begin, and JP Morgan (JPM) received approval to offer Hong Kong funds in China.