Hong Kong SAR

Bond Connect is one of the key schemes of the Hong Kong Exchange Group (HKEX) as it embarks on an ambitious plans to act as a gateway between China and the rest of the world. The programme will act as a gateway for financial institutions who don’t want direct access to China’s bond market as well as a launch pad for indices and derivative products, said chief executive Charles Li.

The CME Group will launch trading of a new dollar index futures contract in April, in collaboration with Bloomberg, with the new index including the offshore RMB (CNH) as one of its currencies.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange's 2015 revenues were bolstered by a jump in listings fees as it saw the most IPOs of any bourse in the world, according to its annual results published on Wednesday.

IBM is looking to offload its entire shareholding in Chinese tech firm Lenovo, launching a HK$1.16bn ($150m) block on Wednesday evening.

Warburg Pincus is offloading shares in US-listed China Biologics Products via a block that could raise up to $385m.

Fixed income specialist SC Lowy and UOB Asset Management are set to launch a $400m CLO that will consist predominantly of bank loans from Asia Pacific issuers.

Union Medical Healthcare covered the institutional tranche of its HK$951m ($122m) IPO on the first day of bookbuilding, with the deal driven by orders from Asian accounts.

China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co is looking to raise as much as $1bn with a Hong Kong IPO in the first half of 2016, according to a source with knowledge of the plan.

Jiayuan International Group has opened books for a HK$1.12bn ($144.16m) listing in Hong Kong, with the Chinese property firm marketing the IPO at a huge discount to its net asset value.

China’s state-owned Jiangxi Copper Company is lining up an A-share and H-share placement to raise a combined Rmb7bn ($1.07bn), according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Latham & Watkins has beefed up its business in Asia by hiring three new partners and relocating two more to its Hong Kong office.

HSBC’s Asian business gained momentum last year, with the bank booking the lion’s share of its earnings from the region. But there are challenges ahead, with the firm under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its hiring practices.