Northeast Asia

Cifi Holdings (Group) Co returned to the bond market with a $300m transaction. The four year bond’s tight price stood in stark contrast to the two year notes Cifi paid up to sell in December.

In this round up, US president Donald Trump hinted at a potential delay of the March 1 deadline for a trade deal with China, the National Development and Reform Commission required its local units to zoom in on the potential for bond defaults and Bank of China (BOC) said it will lend Rmb300b to the Tianjin government.

In this round-up, foreign currency reserves beat market expectations in January, MSCI added 12 securities to its China Index and Standard Chartered signed an MoU with a Chinese supply chain financing provider.

UBS is re-balancing its corporate finance business to end its reliance on its Financial Institutions Group with impressive results, writes David Rothnie.

Chinese property developer Dexin China has launched bookbuilding for an IPO that could raise up to HK$1.73bn ($220.3m).

CStone Pharmaceuticals has launched Hong Kong’s first biotechnology IPO of the year — and bankers are watching it closely. The up to HK$2.38bn ($304m) deal has received a strong early response, a good sign for the growing pipeline of biotech issuers hoping to put a difficult 2018 behind them. Jonathan Breen reports.

After a quiet start to February, property developers from China are making the most out of a liquid bond market, pricing dollar bonds way inside of initial guidance and still watching their bonds trade well in the aftermarket. The rush shows no signs of slowing down. Addison Gong reports.

Hong Kong’s Airport Authority (HKAA) raised $500m from a dollar bond sale on Wednesday, ending a hiatus of nearly 16 years from the market.

It can be rough living in one of the world’s most expensive cities. Tai Tai and I are fortunate enough to afford a lovely home with plenty of room for my Scotch collection, but I know most people in Hong Kong aren’t so lucky.

China’s Chow Tai Fook and Vietnam’s Vingroup have returned to the offshore loan market, with both borrowers inviting banks to join senior syndication.

Right Lane, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings, has paid a higher margin than previously for a $300m-equivalent dual currency borrowing. It is the latest in a series of Chinese and Hong Kong companies that have hiked margins on their return to the loan market this year.

MSCI is to add nine stocks with dual-class voting structures to its global benchmark, it said this week. Chinese technology companies Meituan-Dianping and Xiaomi Corp are among the new names included.