Northeast Asia

These are troubling times. Covid-19 case numbers are jumping every day, more countries are being added to travel ban lists, and the virus outbreak is now officially a pandemic. But some bankers are still finding the positives in all the chaos.

SAIC-GMAC Automotive Finance and Genius Auto Finance printed auto loan ABS deals on Monday and Tuesday. Both were sealed near the tight end of their price guidance ranges.

Two new dollar transactions were launched in the Asian bond market on Wednesday, signalling a slow revival in confidence after a rough start to the week.

Guangzhou R&F Properties Co has become the latest Hong Kong-listed mainland company planning to convert its domestic shares into H-shares, after China fully opened up the H-share full circulation scheme last November.

Chinese biopharmaceutical firm InnoCare Pharma kicked off bookbuilding for its Hong Kong IPO on Wednesday, securing over half of the deal with cornerstone investors.

Can the capital markets function properly with its workforce operating remotely, whether from home or at disaster recovery centres? This question is becoming increasingly important as the Covid-19 infection rate rockets and the death toll grows. One organisation that has more experience of coping than most is the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, based in Beijing.

The debt crisis at Citic Guoan Group deepened after the company announced its eighth domestic bond default this week. Fellow Chinese issuer, Macrolink Holding Co, was also unable to pay back a Rmb1bn ($144m) bond as the Covid-19 outbreak took a toll on its businesses.

Citi has hired industry veteran Loretta Ko as head of Hong Kong financial institutions, within the corporate banking division, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Asia’s IPO markets have been hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic, as travel bans and self-quarantine orders have delayed roadshows and brought deal flow to a near standstill. For the listing markets to survive, issuers, ECM bankers and investors need to adapt rapidly — and put some faith in technology.

China Gas Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed natural gas distributor, doubled the size of its onshore renminbi deal to Rmb1bn on Monday, selling just the second Panda bond linked to combatting woes caused by Covid-19.

In this round-up, the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) infections has surpassed the 100,000 mark, both China’s import and export volumes declined year-on-year for January and February, and property developers suffered huge drops in contracted sales last month.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp is planning to issue a Rmb1bn ($144m) three year Panda bond soon, a banker on the deal told GlobalCapital China.