North America

Former Olympic gymnast and billionaire entrepreneur Li Ning, founder of sportswear brand Li-Ning, has set up a blank cheque firm targeting the Chinese consumer sector.

Chinese internet giant Baidu has met with a rapid flood of early demand for its Hong Kong secondary offering, which is expected to raise around $3bn.

Any fears about the resilience of the US corporate bond market were set aside on Thursday when Verizon Communications amassed a $115bn orderbook and printed one of the biggest deals of the year.

A selloff of growth stocks and primary market indigestion have taken some of the steam out of the booming US convertible bond market, but it remains open to new issuers.

L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp has bagged $250m from its Nasdaq IPO, as it becomes the latest special purpose acquisition company (Spac) focused on Asia to list in the US.

Secondary listings in Hong Kong got a fresh boost this week with online car marketplace Autohome pricing its deal and internet giant Baidu getting ready to roll out its transaction. More homecomings by US-listed Chinese companies are in the pipeline, but the number of viable candidates is shrinking, writes Jonathan Breen.

Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce company, scooped up $4.2bn from its IPO this week, after pricing the deal above the marketed range. It is the largest US listing from Asia since Alibaba Group Holding raised $25bn seven years ago.

The US Treasury is in the midst of a busy week, set to raise some $120bn across three auctions. Its first outing — $58bn of three year paper on Tuesday — was a success, but the 10 and 30 year outings on Wednesday and Thursday could be more of a challenge.

South Korean e-commerce company Coupang has increased the price range for its US IPO a day before wrapping up the deal, now putting proceeds of up to $4.08bn within reach.

The rise in US Treasury yields in reaction to the government's $1.9tr stimulus package has prompted a shift in equity markets away from highly valued tech stocks that may do less well if interest rates rise as a result of higher inflation. But if the switch means investor portfolios reflect the wider economy, that is a positive development.

Zhihu, China’s largest question-and-answer platform, has set its New York Stock Exchange IPO in motion.

European equity capital markets continued to reel from volatility across the Atlantic on Friday. A sell-off in tech stocks is making the block trade market difficult and a popular IPO suffered on its first day of trading.