Hong Kong SAR

The Mutual Recognition of Funds (MRF) scheme continues to attract interest from mainland retail investors nearly a year after its launch. However, it is being stifled by poor distribution efforts, scarcity of eligible funds, as well as foreign fund manager uncertainty about what is the best route into China.

Two live IPOs in Asia are seeing an encouraging response from investors, with Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US presidential election having little impact on their bookbuilds.

Fertiliser producer Dongguang Chemical is planning to list its shares in Hong Kong, according to a draft prospectus filed with the city’s bourse on Monday.

Nomura has tapped James Pearson as head of FIG for Asia ex-Japan, based in Hong Kong, poaching him from Standard Chartered.

Chinese sportswear manufacturer Xtep International Holdings is looking to tie up a $100m amortising loan, having enlisted a Hong Kong lender to arrange it. Xtep has sold syndicated loans in the past but is reaching out to a smaller group of banks this time.

Former UBS banker Christopher Fok has resurfaced at CMB International in Hong Kong with a wider role covering both ECM syndicate and origination.

Steve Lam, a Hong Kong-based director in Citi’s capital markets origination team, has left, according to sources close to the matter.

UBS is rejigging its Hong Kong-based corporate finance group (CFG) and its team of junior China-focused country bankers, affecting about 20 staff.

In this new Monday round-up from GlobalRMB, we bring you a collection of market and regulatory developments from the weekend as well as provide a preview of upcoming events this week.

It's now all Trump, all the time – especially for China. In this round-up, a recap of our top stories from an eventful week. In broader news, the RMB struggles against the dollar, China’s foreign exchange (FX) reserves hit new lows in October, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank readies a seat at the table for Hong Kong.

Asia’s equity capital markets recovered quickly in the wake of Donald Trump winning the White House, with most of the indices regaining their losses in Thursday’s trading. Primary issuance also took off, with some keen issuers pulling the trigger on their IPOs. Jonathan Breen reports.

Citic Securities is consolidating its Hong Kong-based units to create a single platform for all its offshore businesses under the CLSA brand, with a committee being formed to complete the process within 12 months.