Morgan Stanley

All of the big US investment banks have beaten grim expectations for their fixed income trading divisions, despite a collapse in volumes far more severe than that in the first quarter and volatility that is still on the floor, writes Owen Sanderson.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is making its second attempt at a loan market debut, launching a $1bn fundraising into senior syndication. The early signs are that the deal will win the hearts of loans bankers, but the company still has to clear some hurdles on its way to success, write Rashmi Kumar and Shruti Chaturvedi.

Internet giant Yahoo announced on July 15 that it will be selling 60m fewer shares in Alibaba’s IPO. The listing is expected to hit the market either at the end of the month or at the start of August.

Hong Kong-listed Citic Pacific has sold 623m more shares to two new investors as part of its Rmb225bn ($37bn) acquisition of its parent Citic Group.

Mobile phone company Xiaomi HK is back in the market for its second attempt at a syndication, this time for a jumbo financing of $1bn via two tranches.

E-commerce giant Alibaba revealed on July 11 that it now values itself at $130bn, up from $117bn in June, as yet more information is unveiled by the Chinese firm ahead of an upcoming listing.

China’s Rundong Automobile Group is gauging investor sentiment for a potential listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and if market conditions stay in its favour, books could open as early as next week.

Jinchuan Group priced its debut international bond, a three CNH issue, on July 10. The 4.75% bonds were reoffered at 99.724% to yield 4.85%, and the deal was the first time a regional state owned enterprise (SOE) had tapped the offshore RMB market via China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) quota system.

OTE, the Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, was tempted back to the bond market this week by the remarkably strong rally in its debt, to buy back €500m of old bonds and issue €700m of new ones.

Emerging market bond investors say they are finding little value in investment grade Chilean corporates after power transmission company Transelec continued LatAm’s lengthening run of blowouts with a $375m deal sold inside its existing — admittedly illiquid — bond.

Banco Popular Español postponed a sale of its second additional tier one (AT1) deal after launching the deal into a sell-off in the AT1 market that became progressively worse over the course of the morning. The Spanish bank was looking to issue the transaction at a level market participants said was surprisingly aggressive.

Development bank Corporación Financiera de Desarrollo (Cofide) took advantage of a strong bid for Peru after the sovereign’s newly attained A3 rating from Moody’s to price senior unsecured and subordinated tier two bonds that mean it is unlikely to have to raise new capital for at least three years.