Greater China

The IMF appears to have taken a cue from the Trump administration in its China country report published on July 25. The report made little effort to smooth over the urgent need for China to open up its economy and move forward with a restructuring of its regulatory setup.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has put a proposal to give weighted voting rights (WVRs) to corporate entities on ice, after a tiff with its mainland counterparts and pushback from investors. But the move is not an automatic win for its rival in Singapore, which last month allowed companies to hold dual-class shares. John Loh writes.

China Aircraft Leasing is back with a $790m borrowing, pushing for a longer tenor to support its aircraft purchasing.

Fortune Oil PRC Holdings has returned to the offshore loan market for a $400m borrowing, refinancing a smaller deal closed in 2016.

Telecommunications infrastructure giant China Tower found huge demand for its multi-billion-dollar IPO this week as it kicked off bookbuilding in Hong Kong. The deal is a counter-balance to a flood of technology listings in the market this year. Jonathan Breen reports.

UBS raids JP Morgan for senior ECM hires — Credit Suisse hires Tan for SE Asian loans syndicate — JM Financial’s Mody strikes out on his own — Fixed income veteran leaves Nomura in India

Chinese high yield property bonds have been battered in the primary and secondary markets for much of 2018. Many issuers have been forced to steer clear of the market, fearing expensive pricing at best and failed deals at worst. But regulatory changes in China’s domestic market are starting to have an impact offshore, giving real estate companies the vote of confidence they have been waiting for. Morgan Davis reports.

Pinduoduo, one of China’s hottest technology start-ups, sealed its $1.6bn IPO at the top end as expected, but not all American Depository Share (ADS) listings were so lucky this week as investors remained on edge.

Ascletis Pharma priced its Hong Kong IPO in the middle of expectations on Wednesday, raising HK$3.1bn ($400m) from the city’s inaugural biotechnology offering.

JP Morgan wants to boost the number of Chinese stocks it covers to 200, having poached five research analysts to oversee the market recently, the bank told GlobalRMB.

The slow pace of the loan market means it often gives comfort to bond bankers in times of volatility. But for those bankers with heavy pipelines of Chinese offshore bonds, a glance at the outlook for loans now paints a scary picture.

Hong Kong’s summer typhoon season was the bane of my existence during my working years. Running between meetings in torrential rain, having umbrella wars on crowded pavements, finding out a T8 signal has been raised only after you get to the office: none of it was much fun.