Hong Kong SAR

Online travel agent Tongcheng-Elong Holdings has raised HK$1.41bn ($180m) from its Hong Kong IPO. The leads on the deal had to spend time convincing a number of anchor investors to stay in the transaction given the state of the market.

Babytree Group and Tongcheng-Elong Holdings hit the market with their Hong Kong IPOs at an unfortunate time and volatility forced both companies to take a knife to their fundraising targets. But their moves may pay off in the long-term.

Nomura has poached a senior telecommunication, media and technology coverage banker from BNP Paribas.

Chinese online educator Koolearn Technology Holding has launched investor education for its Hong Kong IPO at a time when the Mainland government is stepping up regulation of the private education sector.

Shanghai-listed WuXi AppTec has launched pre-marketing for its Hong Kong IPO, which is expected to hit the market by the end of the month, according to a banker close to the deal.

Country Garden Holdings is looking to issue a new convertible bond to refinance a billion-dollar CB coming up for maturity in early 2019, according to a banker familiar with the matter.

In this round-up, wealthy Chinese individual investors now have access to local government bonds, Russian and Chinese leaders in the financial industry are meeting to strengthen mutual market access, and northbound trading volume via Stock Connect reached Rmb8.77tn.

Chinese conglomerate HNA Group’s Hong Kong Airlines is in talks with lenders for a new borrowing, two loans bankers have told GlobalCapital Asia.

Kaisa Property Management Group, a subsidiary of Kaisa Holdings, is pushing ahead with its IPO, starting to gauge investor interest this week.

China Exchanges Services Co (CESC), a joint venture between the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, has launched an index to track the performance of Hong Kong-listed biotechnology companies.

The IPO plans of companies operating in the cryptocurrency sector are in limbo after Canaan, the world’s second largest maker of cryptocurrency mining equipment, let its IPO application on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange lapse on Thursday.

Hong Kong IPO hopefuls Babytree Group and Tongcheng-Elong Holdings announced deals drastically smaller than their initial targets this week. But despite the clear sign of trouble in the market, a few more Chinese companies are considering pushing ahead with their own listings before the end of the month. Jonathan Breen reports.