JP Morgan

Chinese artificial intelligence company Megvii Technology is moving forward with its plan to list in Hong Kong, after getting the go-ahead from the city’s stock exchange, according to two sources close to the transaction.

KfW broke new ground in the sterling bond market on Monday by bringing its largest ever benchmark in the currency. Kommunalbanken is looking to latch on to the red hot market too after picking banks to lead a new December 2024 trade.

Atlantica Yield, formerly the UK-based energy yieldco Abengoa Yield, has launched a debut US private placement, which is the first US PP offering in 2020 in Europe.

JP Morgan was the top bookrunner for investment-grade syndicated loans globally in 2019 again, though BNP Paribas was the bank to beat in Europe.

Norwegian oil exploration and production company Aker BP is positioning itself as an investment grade issuer with a new dual tranche dollar mandate, with a call targeting bond buyers with IG mandates, and an unsecured issue structure. The company received its second IG rating last November.

Asian bond issuers went full speed ahead with their fundraising plans on Monday, launching new deals ahead of Chinese New Year holidays at the end of the month.

JP Morgan Securities (China) has received the securities and futures business permit from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which will allow it to begin operations in the Mainland.

A €200m bond add-on for UK-based car maker Jaguar Land Rover, announced on Tuesday, follows €800m of unsecured notes issued in mid-November. Jaguar was drawn to a balmy post-election market that rewarded it with favourable pricing and encouraged it to increase the deal.

Ping An Group subsidiary OneConnect Financial Technology has raised $312m from a listing of American Depository Shares (ADS) after trimming and then increasing its IPO.

European banks are about as close as they can be to having clarity on their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). Now it’s up to them to figure out what impact the new bond standard will have on their funding plans, annual profits and business models. Tyler Davies reports

European banks no longer really have to think about building up layers of additional tier one debt. All of the focus has shifted to managing and refreshing this capital layer, and taking full advantage of a ferocious hunt for yield. Tyler Davies reports

Bankers predict that financial institutions will be looking to pack as much funding as possible into the first few months of next year, in a bid to avoid the event with biggest potential for volatility — the US presidential election in November.