Hong Kong SAR

Volatility in Chinese equity and foreign exchange markets is spooking investors but the cheaper RMB and more reasonable valuations for A-shares might provide an ideal entry point for investment into the Mainland.

HNA Group International, a Hong Kong-based investment holding subsidiary of airline HNA Group, is preparing its debut Panda bond. The trade will be sold into China’s exchange bond market, which has recently started giving approvals for Panda bonds from red chip companies.

The Asia head and chief executive officer of Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (Hong Kong) is to hand over the reins to a colleague in April.

Dalian Port Co has raised HK$4.33bn ($558.55m) from the first tranche of its private placement of H-shares, with a single investor taking up all the stock on offer, according to a company filing.

United Asia Finance (UAF) has started approaching banks for a new syndicated loan, as the Sun Hung Kai owned borrower returns to the market after nearly a year.

The Asia ex-Japan debt capital market was crowded with dollar issuers on January 13, with two investment grade bonds and two high yield notes opening in the morning.

There was shock this week in the offshore market when CNH Hong Kong interbank offered rate (CNH Hibor) reached a record high overnight of 66.8% on January 12. The dramatic move was a result of the People’s Bank of China interventions to stop people shorting the currency, FX traders told GlobalRMB.

Chinese city commercial lender Bank of Tianjin is seeking $1bn from a potential IPO in Hong Kong this year, having filed a preliminary prospectus with the city’s stock exchange on January 12.

The CNH-CNY FX gap has narrowed sharply in the wake of Monday's HIBOR fixing spike. In CNY swaps, easing concerns about further yuan depreciation have dampened short-end paying interest and the 1s/5s curve slope has steepened slightly, by Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

There were dramatic moves in the offshore renminbi market on the morning of January 12 as the spread between onshore RMB (CNY) and offshore RMB (CNH) all but disappeared. And, in a radical development, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) purchases of CNH in Hong Kong drove the overnight CNH Hong Kong interbank offered rate (CNH Hibor) to a record 66.8%.

A $200m equivalent borrowing for Yue Xiu Enterprises has seen commitments worth $300m come in from banks that will avail an extra fee for chipping in ahead of an early bird deadline.

A $100m syndicated loan for China Water Affairs Group has closed with over 10 banks piling in, prompting the borrower to consider doubling the size of the deal.