Northeast Asia

Akesobio, a Chinese biopharmaceutical firm, has launched an online-only roadshow for its up to HK$2.58bn ($332.9m) IPO amid numerous country-wide lockdowns globally to combat the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional and China's Lenovo Group set the stage for new dollar deals on Tuesday, taking advantage of a rally in Asian bonds and improved investor sentiment despite the growing impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

German agency L-Bank steamed into the dim sum bond market on Tuesday to print what could be the start of a new flurry of offshore renminbi issuance.

South Korea's Shinhan Bank raised $500m from a Formosa bond on Wednesday, taking advantage of the strong interest from Taiwanese investors for its transaction. The borrower paid just 20bp in new issue premium.

In this round-up, China's foreign currency reserves decreased by $46bn in March, and non-Chinese institutions continued to add onshore bonds to their books.

US-listed AMTD International floated on the Singapore Exchange this week, debuting dual-class shares on the southeast Asian bourse through a secondary offering.

WeDoctor, a Chinese healthcare app, has added Citi to the syndicate team of its Hong Kong IPO, GlobalCapital Asia understands.

In this round-up, US president Donald Trump lashes out at the World Health Organization (WHO) for being too ‘China centric’, and the State Council plans to develop more active capital markets and promote e-commerce trades.

Veteran capital markets banker Richard Taylor has left CLSA after more than two decades at the boutique investment bank.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) is speeding up the approval process for IPOs and follow-ons for companies impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, GlobalCapital China understands.

Yankee bank and insurance names took centre stage in the dollar market as US banks prepared to give their first insight into the impact of the coronavirus with the arrival of bank earnings season.

Infrequent issuers are slowly returning to the Swiss franc market. During the past week, Eurofima brought its first Swissies deal in six years, while biotech firm Lonza printed its first bond in any currency since 2017.