Greater China

Bank of China Macau has approached lenders for a financing of up to $500m, with details about the loan going to a limited number of banks, said sources.

A member of the ECM syndicate team at BOC International in Hong Kong has left to join Goldman Sachs, according to sources close to the move.

China’s startling transformation continued last year, with the opening up the domestic bond market to foreign investors, the rise in renminbi volatility, and an all-important party meeting that cemented the power of Xi Jinping. Over the course of four in-depth articles, GlobalRMB will examine the key themes that will define this transformation in 2018. First up: the move to bring more foreign bond investors into the country.

China may seem out of the woods, given the strong GDP growth recorded in 2017 and the coordinated crackdown on leverage in its financial system, but the true reckoning has yet to come, leading China economist Michael Pettis tells GlobalRMB.

Chinese video streaming platform iQiyi filed a draft IPO prospectus with the US market regulator on Tuesday. It is aiming to raise up to $1.5bn from its listing this year.

Impro Precision Industries is seeking a Hong Kong listing with Morgan Stanley as the left lead and a sponsor alongside BOC International.

Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Industrial Bank Co have raised close to $3.7bn from eight fixed and floating rate tranches in three currencies. But most of the portions had to offer a new issue premium, which ranged from a few basis points to as much as 15bp.

Central China Real Estate, Hubei Science & Technology Investment Group Co and Shui On Land jumped into the offshore debt market on Monday, getting ahead of a growing line of issuers.

China Boqi Environmental Holdings has kicked off bookbuilding for its up to HK$908m ($116.1m) Hong Kong IPO, supported by a handful of anchor orders and a single cornerstone investor.

Senior fixed income banker Michael Luk has joined CLSA as global head of debt capital markets, after a one year stint with the Singapore Exchange.

China’s plans to adopt a market-driven IPO approval process will be pushed back by another two years, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Germany's RMB hub has seen slow action since its establishment in 2014, but a Bond Connect service established by Clearstream and the upcoming offering of D-shares on the China Europe International Exchange (Ceinex) could turn things around.