Greater China

Real estate company China Aoyuan Property Group has become the first issuer in Asia ex-Japan to launch a dollar bond in 2017, marketing a three year on Wednesday.

Wisdom Education International Holdings Co kicked off investor education for a $200m IPO in Hong Kong on Tuesday, squeezing into a tight pricing window before the Chinese New Year break.

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co and KWG Property Holding raised a combined $515m at the tail end of last week, just before the start of what many anticipate to be a busy year for Chinese property debt issuance.

Chinese property developer Modern Land (China) Co and textile producer Shandong Ruyi Technology Group Co priced their respective taps at the end of last week, taking advantage of regulatory approvals that expired at the year end.

The Hong Kong IPO market has started 2017 with some action as two Chinese issuers unveiled fundraising plans to seek a combined HK$4.2bn ($533.8m).

Allocations are out for a $150m three year loan for a subsidiary of Chinese electro-acoustic product maker Goertek, which gathered commitments from 10 banks during syndication.

Welcome back and Happy New Year. While we were on a break, China revised its official trade-weighted currency basket, added two new RMB qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII) and set stricter rules for the individual quota of foreign exchange (FX) purchases that reset on January 1.

Law firm Dechert has hired a new partner in its corporate and securities team in Hong Kong, poaching from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

ANZ and CIMB have both revealed plans to sell their respective stakes in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB) and Bank of Yingkou, as part of strategies to focus on their core businesses.

Chinese property developer Cifi Holdings (Group) Co has raised $530m from a multi-currency club loan.

Law firm Clifford Chance has appointed a new head of corporate practice for Asia Pacific, as the incumbent takes over a new role.

Hong Kong-listed Longfor Properties has sealed a Rmb3bn ($431m) fundraising with a Chinese bank at the helm.