Hong Kong SAR

Chinese property developer Country Garden has closed a $1.5bn-equivalent dual currency loan, attracting seven participants during syndication.

The theory of nominative determinism states that people tend to take jobs that fit their names: John Baker becomes a baker, Ted Milk becomes a dairy farmer, Fakey McBlowhard becomes a politician. But there are also names that are valuable, not so much because they affect your career choices but because there’s a good chance you might get confused for someone else.

China’s Ant Group kicked off marketing for its Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing on Thursday, the last stage before launching a possible $35bn IPO, set to be the world’s largest to date. The combined offering is already more than a third covered by onshore investors, with global buyers lining up for the rest. Addison Gong and Jonathan Breen report.

Hong Kong’s securities watchdog has fined Goldman Sachs $350m for regulatory failures in its work on bonds issued by the scandal-hit Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB, part of a multi-billion-dollar settlement with global regulators.

JW (Cayman) Therapeutics set its IPO in motion on Thursday, opening the order book for the up to HK$2.3bn ($300m) deal.

China Everbright, the Hong Kong asset manager, sold its maiden dollar bond on Tuesday.

Hong Kong-based Peak Reinsurance Co rolled out a subordinated perpetual bond on Tuesday, netting $250m from the deal.

Chinese data centre operator GDS Holdings has covered the books for its Hong Kong secondary offering, just hours after launching a deal that could be worth about $1.6bn.

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group has bagged HK$3.57bn ($460.6m) from its IPO, after sealing the offer at the top end of the price guidance, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Ant Group has got the go ahead from regulators for the Hong Kong portion of its dual listing, which is expected to raise around $30bn in the largest ever primary share offering globally.

Shimao Services has joined the stream of Chinese property managers listing in Hong Kong this year, kicking off bookbuilding for its up to HK$10.1bn ($1.3bn) IPO.

JW (Cayman) Therapeutics has launched pre-deal investor education for its Hong Kong IPO, setting the final stage of the deal ahead of launch in motion.