Greater China

Property developer HKR International has increased the size of its borrowing to HK$8bn ($1.032bn) to accommodate the 14 lenders that have formed the syndicate group.

China Reinsurance Corp (Chine Re) has kicked off a soft pre-marketing for its $2bn IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as investors remain in a risk-off mood amid global volatility.

Hong Kong-listed HNA International Investment Holdings has announced plans for a HK$2.97bn ($383m) rights issue that will hit the market in October.

Although Chinese equities are selling-off again today short-end CNY swaps have been better bid on underlying concerns about a gradual yuan depreciation trend. Elsewhere traders expect to see the curve steepen as corrective strength in equities supports paying in mid-sector swaps, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

In the wake of a selloff despite People’s Bank of China easing, the China Financial Futures Exchange implemented a series of new rules designed to stop the pain.

The governments of Indonesia and Russia both signalled earlier this week that they are considering issuing renminbi denominated bonds. If the plans go ahead, these will be the third and fourth RMB deals from a foreign sovereign after the UK and Mongolia governments. However, FX volatility means now is not the best time to pull off a RMB deal.

In this round-up, Stock Connect trading surges this week, HKEx reports record levels of RMB futures trading, AIIB chooses a Chinese national as its president.

Kingboard Chemical Holdings has increased its borrowing to HK$6bn ($773m) from a launch size of HK$5bn, after 18 banks came on board during general syndication.

Yo-yoing global equity markets will shock M&A in Europe but will not stem deal flow altogether, as savvy companies continue to make strategic plays, write Dan Alderson and Elly Whittaker.

Equity capital market bankers, many of them having just completed the traditional late summer migration from deck chair to desktop, put on brave faces this week, as they took in the sudden collapse, then partial recovery, of global stocks.

Nationwide Building Society has splashed out in the Hong Kong dollar market, selling its largest ever note in the currency. The deal comes amid a “revival” for the currency and as European financial issuers are “in vogue” in Hong Kong, but dealers are divided over whether more issuance is likely.

Was it all a dream? At the start of the week the markets were in the throes of a full-blown panic, with talk of “Black Monday” and plentiful comparisons with the Lehman collapse. Yet barely three days later, the iTraxx Europe was back trading at 70.5bp, exactly the same level it was quoted at a week ago.