Greater China

Chinese e-commerce start-up Pinduoduo is set to price its US listing at the top of guidance after a flurry of demand towards the end of its roadshow, according to a banker working on the deal.

Dongfeng Nissan Auto Finance enjoyed strong support from its traditional investor base — Chinese banks and onshore arms of Japanese banks — as it sold a Rmb4.5bn ($665.7m) securitization on July 19. The deal came as looser onshore liquidity gave banks more cash to buy ABS papers.

Hope Education Group launched its Hong Kong IPO on Monday. The company is hoping to raise up to HK$3.2bn ($408m), with one cornerstone investor already in the bag.

High yield issuers have steered clear of the primary Asian bond market in recent weeks, but a tap by Agile Group Holdings at the end of last week showed there is still some demand for lower rated names.

Mainland telecommunications infrastructure giant China Tower hit the road on Monday to start drumming up interest in its HK$68.1bn ($8.7bn) IPO, according to a senior banker on the deal.

Regulators water down wealth management product (WMP) rules, Donald Trump calls China a currency manipulator as his treasury secretary ramps up the pressure, and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) pushes USDCNH options trading volumes to a new high.

Enerchina Holdings’s HK$1.3bn ($165.7m) rights issue in Hong Kong failed to get enough support from investors.

Chen Gong, chief researcher at leading Chinese private think tank Anbound, tells GlobalRMB that the excessive caution of onshore authorities has made the pace of RMB internationalization far from ideal.

The research chief at the People’s Bank of China got into a rare war of words with the finance ministry, regulators push banks to lend to small businesses and buy lower-rated corporate bonds, and the securities watchdog appoints a new head for the international department.

Chinese lender ICBC partners with a German lender to finance Belt and Road projects, Tradeweb prepares to make Bond Connect trading more liquid, and China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) starts consultation on introducing two-year futures for Chinese government bonds.

Investors queued up on Thursday to buy Beijing Enterprises Water Group's (BEWG) second Panda bond in two months. The deal came as property Panda issuers are held up by regulators in the pipeline, as China seeks to cool its housing market.

SF Holding Co grabbed $500m from its inaugural bond on Thursday, enticing investors with its high rating and scarcity value.