Greater China

The Hong Kong office of law firm Dentons has bulked up its capital markets group with a new partner.

Bank of Communications Co is moving ahead with the IPO of its investment banking subsidiary BoCom International in Hong Kong, after its board approved the planned $300m listing.

Indonesia’s Cikarang Listrindo and Hong Kong’s Far East Consortium International have set sights on the international bond market, having appointed banks to work on their respective dollar offerings.

The China cross-border interbank payment system (CIPS) may struggle to get a large number of banks to sign up as direct participants, but with new features such as netting set to be added, it will become an essential component of China’s renminbi internationalisation strategy.

Poland became the first European country to issue a Panda bond on Thursday, printing a landmark Rmb3bn ($451m) deal. The depreciating renminbi was not enough to put off foreign investors, while the yield pick-up over other sovereign bonds helped ensure a strong order book. Addison Gong reports.

Wanda Commercial Properties Hong Kong has made a rapid return to the syndicated loan market, launching a fresh $500m borrowing barely two months after signing its last facility. Simultaneously, parent Dalian Wanda Group is also understood to be seeking a $700m-$800m club loan, prompting discussions about the company’s appetite for debt. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

Two accelerated bookbuilds lit up the Asian market this week as equity capital market bankers foresaw brightening prospects for block trades. As one banker said that term sheets for potential overnight share sales were “flying around”, the end of the summer could usher in a bumper harvest of deals. John Loh reports.

Huarong International Financial Holdings is seeking a HK$1.5bn ($193m) dual tranche loan and has picked a Taiwanese bank to lead the trade.

China Orient Asset Management Corp demonstrated its strength in the bond market this week, pricing a $650m deal off the back of a $4.2bn order book.

China’s Xinyuan Real Estate brought a three year deal to the dollar market on Wednesday, attracting yield-hungry investors with an 8% handle.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded Morgan Stanley Hong Kong Securities over internal control failures, slapping a fine of HK$18.5m ($2.4m) on the US bank.

The launch of China’s cross-border interbank payment system (CIPS) last year was a milestone for the internationalisation of the renminbi. Close to a year on, Bank of China Hong Kong’s general manager for bank-wide operations, Yang Ru Hai, speaks to GlobalRMB on what it takes to improve RMB clearing and what the future holds for clearing banks such as themselves.