Greater China

China Boqi Environmental Holdings has raised HK$605.2m ($77.2m) after pricing its IPO at the bottom of guidance, according to a source close to the deal.

Four Asian issuers began marketing dollar deals on Monday, as a number of others started testing buy-side appetite through roadshows. But borrowers will have to temper their expectations on size and price, faced with a choppy market backdrop.

China Eastern Airlines Corp has raised ¥50bn ($468m) in Tokyo’s Pro-Bond market, breaking new ground in Japan with a standby letter of credit (SBLC) structure. Some bankers reckon the deal could be the first of many to come.

A $200m borrowing for Citic Pacific has been allocated among six Taiwanese banks, with sole lead Fubon Bank keeping most of the loan on its books.

Far East Horizon has closed its largest syndicated loan at just over $1bn, after banks jumped onboard the fundraising.

Chinese conglomerate Sinochem Group has invited banks to pitch for a role on a Hong Kong IPO of one of its subsidiaries, according to a banker with a firm pitching for the deal.

Amy Tan has been promoted to head of debt capital markets origination for Asia ex-Japan at JP Morgan, effective immediately.

China Xinhua Education Group has launched bookbuilding for its HK$1.5bn ($188.3m) IPO, the first Mainland education provider to hit the Hong Kong market this year.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) lifts restrictions on foreign investors seeking a majority stake in local securities firms, lawmakers consent to move to scrap the two-term presidential limit, and the Chinese commerce minister says the country will not fight a trade war with the US.

Hong Kong’s market regulator is planning to ban UBS from sponsoring any IPOs in the city for 18 months, according to a section in the bank’s 2017 annual report released on Friday.

Dongfeng Nissan Auto Finance stuck to the strategy from its last transaction in October 2017 — of selling a fixed-rate note accompanied by a floating-rate tranche — as it returned to the Chinese asset-backed securities market on Thursday, raising Rmb4.5bn ($709.2m).

In the third of a four-part series of articles on China’s financial transformation, cash management experts tell GlobalRMB the wheels are again in motion for foreign corporations in China to move past nearly three years of strict capital controls that have all but killed their intent of using the country as a regional treasury hub.