Northeast Asia

Chinese issuers are continuing to circumvent regulatory approval for offshore fundraising by going down the short-term note issuance route, with Zhongtai Securities becoming the latest name to hit the market.

France is hoping to add its name to a growing list of sovereigns in China’s Panda bond market, having discussed the possibility with at least two of the country’s biggest state-owned banks.

Chinese regulators have given Standard Chartered the nod to become a joint lead underwriter on corporate Panda bonds, allowing it to take a senior position on deals that it was previously forced to play a junior role on. StanChart is only the second foreign bank to win the approval.

China Evergrande Group made its debut in the equity-linked market on Tuesday, raising a hefty HK$18bn ($2.3bn) from a convertible bond — but not before slicing a third off the original deal size and rejigging its structure.

Lao Feng Xiang Jewellery Hong Kong is dipping its toes into the offshore syndicated loan market for a $200m financing. This is the second firm in the Chinese jewellery sector to tap overseas investors this year.

Far East Horizon is making a rapid comeback with an $800m fundraising just two months after allocating an identical loan, confident that banks will gobble it up.

BOC International and Jefferies have announced an agreement to jointly provide investment banking advisory and capital markets services to clients, according to a Tuesday press release.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has signed a memorandum of understanding with New Zealand’s primary national stock exchange operator NZX to foster collaboration on a variety of issues.

Fitch Ratings has exited its joint venture in China. But far from being a step back, the move could allow the firm to set up a fully owned business. Although Fitch operated in the market for a decade, it was previously forced to play second fiddle to its local partner, said a source.

Property developer China Evergrande Group opened books for a HK$23bn ($2.9bn) perpetual convertible bond on Tuesday evening, a deal that was much sought after by banks.

Future Land Development Holdings and Powerlong Real Estate Holdings sold their respective equity-linked notes with almost similar results on Monday. Both deals were fully increased and priced near the investor-friendly end of terms.

Poly Real Estate Group Co, the investment-grade property arm of government-owned China Poly Group Corp, ended an near four year bond hiatus with a tightly priced transaction on Monday. But a volatile market and an aggressive narrowing in pricing caused a drastic drop in orders.