Hong Kong SAR

Eastspring Investments has appointed industry veteran Au King Lun as chief executive officer for Hong Kong, effective on December 7.

Bank of Zhengzhou started gauging investor appetite for its IPO of roughly $600m on December 7, as the last of the Chinese city commercial lenders prepares for a Hong Kong listing this year.

China Nuclear Engineering Group Corporation (CNEC) is hoping to launch what will probably be the last dim sum bond of the year. However, the borrower is struggling to get the debut off the ground, as it is pushing to issue at a level that is much lower than market rates, several sources close to the deal have told GlobalRMB.

China Energy Engineering Corp’s HK$14bn ($1.81bn) Hong Kong IPO, which priced at the bottom of the range on Thursday, was comfortably covered even though retail investors failed to take up all the shares they were entitled to.

In this round-up, Hong Kong sees sharp drop in RMB trade settlement in October, PBoC appoints Swiss RMB clearing bank, ICBC Singapore completes first CNH bond repo, CSRC looking at London Stock Connect feasibility, Macau set to introduce RMB clearing system, StanChart joins OTC Clear in Hong Kong. Plus, a recap of our top stories this week.

Philippine property developer DM Wenceslao and Associates, which was expected to open books for its IPO of around Ps10.73bn ($227m) this week, has pulled the plug on the transaction until next year.

As I sit here nursing the pot belly I built up through marathon drinking sessions to impress clients over the years, I can’t help but feel some Schadenfreude about the hoops bankers have to jump through these days to win business.

CRCC High-Tech Equipment Corp and Modern Dental Group have launched their respective Hong Kong listings to much fanfare as issuers capture the last few opportunities to sell IPOs.

Credit Suisse has shaken up its top ranks in Asia Pacific, with changes to its equity capital markets, investment banking and private banking units.

China Energy Engineering Corp is guiding investors toward the lower half of the indicative range of its HK$15.22bn ($1.96bn) IPO in Hong Kong as bookbuilding headed to a close on Wednesday.

American car rental company Hertz has trimmed some more of its stake in China Auto Rental (CAR) via a HK$1.05bn ($135m) overnight block, with the trade priced at the bottom of guidance to ensure the secondary performance held up well.

Modern Dental Group has opened books for its HK$1.23bn ($158.71m) IPO in Hong Kong and plans to woo institutional investors by placing only a small portion of the trade with one cornerstone investor.