Greater China

Yingda International Leasing is making its debut in the Hong Kong and US dollar loan markets with a $200m dual-currency facility as it looks to increase its visibility among international lenders.

High yield investors are facing a unique proposition with Jiangsu NewHeadLine (NHL) opening books to a three year dollar bond on January 6, in what would be a rare high yielding credit that is linked to a local Chinese municipal government.

Hong Kong real estate giant Swire Properties and the Korea Development Bank have launched the first investment grade bonds from Asia for 2016, opening books for dollar-denominated transactions on January 6.

Hong Kong-listed China SCE Property has completed a $400m fundraising via four mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Standard & Poor’s has put the credit rating of Chinese mall developer Renhe Commercial Holdings on negative watch after one of the company's subsidiaries breached covenants on a syndicated loan. The breach could prompt banks to demand an early repayment, which the firm might find tough to meet.

Equity markets had an inauspicious start to 2016, as China triggered yet another global sell-off and a new circuit breaker only added to the volatility. Monday was officially the worst-ever start for Chinese shares, but market participants shouldn’t read too much into the turbulence.

French lender Natixis has bolstered its Asia Pacific team with a pair of senior appointments to its fixed income and equity units.

A $300m borrowing for Iris World Enterprises, an affiliate of Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, has been signed among eight lenders less than a month after launching into syndication.

The sell-off in the A-share market on January 4 might well scare off Hong Kong investors from buying Chinese securities via the new Mutual Recognition of Funds (MRF) scheme, but retail investors in China might now have increased appetite for offshore investments available via the MRF’s southern channel, according to market participants.

Any hopes among European credit traders of easing back into 2016 with a peaceful first week were shattered from the outset on Monday, as spreads gapped wider due to China’s stock market woes and oil price volatility arising from Saudi Arabia’s new stand-off with Iran.

A much-touted circuit breaker meant to curb wild swings in China’s A-share market was triggered on Monday, as a sharp sell-down set off an exchange-wide trading suspension.

Virscend Education Co launched the institutional bookbuild for its HK$2.19bn ($282.50m) Hong Kong IPO on Monday, even as the slump in Chinese shares triggered a market-wide trading halt and sent global equities tumbling.