Greater China

Credit Suisse has promoted Joe Lai to co-head of China investment banking and capital markets (IBCM), according to a memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Funding officials said green bonds had stimulated other sustainability work across their organisations at the Climate Bonds Initiative conference in London on Tuesday.

Commodities trader Noble Group decided not to repay a $379m bond that matured this week, triggering an event of default. But the latest development got little reaction from the market, as the company has long been in the process of restructuring almost $3.4bn of debt.

Hong Kong-listed New World Development has converted a loan signed in March 2016 into a green loan, a first of its kind for the company and in line with its plan to promote sustainability across its business.

China’s regulators have floated the idea of using Chinese Depository Receipts (CDR) to attract the mainland’s new economy giants to list on the home market — a big step in the right direction if China wants to win the returning business of its foreign listed technology firms. But with rules around the issuance still in the works, focusing on small names may reap big rewards.

An official with the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has slammed a much-discussed plan to link the Mainland and Hong Kong primary equity markets.

Qatar Investment Authority pocketed HK$5.2bn ($663.5m) on Tuesday from a simultaneous sell-down in Hong Kong-listed Lifestyle International Holdings and Lifestyle China Group.

There was a rare sighting in the Panda bond market this week, as international investors outnumbered their onshore counterparts. The Republic of the Philippines completed its first transaction in the asset class, taking home Rmb1.46bn ($230.8m).

China Xinhua Education Group has raised HK$1.3bn ($166.2m) after pricing its IPO at the middle of guidance, according to a source close to the deal.

Senior banker Chris Marschall has joined Crédit Agricole as its new equity capital markets head for Asia Pacific, as the French bank starts building an ECM business in the region.

Beijing Capital Group debuted in the green bond market on Monday with a $600m-equivalent deal featuring dollars and offshore renminbi (CNH), finding enough buy-side support to tighten pricing by over 20bp on both the tranches.

UBS is keeping the equity blocks market busy in Asia, launching two deals consecutively in the Philippines and Hong Kong — both as sole bookrunner.