Northeast Asia

Shimao Property Holdings is diversifying its Panda bond funding channels into the interbank bond market, having filed for a Rmb8bn ($1.17bn) programme with the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors.

Three issuers from the aircraft industry, Grand China Air Co, China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings and Hong Kong Express Airways, hit the runway for their respective dollar offerings on Tuesday morning.

Officials at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said on Sunday that they will continue approving IPOs at a faster clip as stability returns to the market.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) has followed up on a promise made at the end of last year, announcing on Monday that foreign institutional investors are now allowed to enter the onshore FX derivatives market.

The company behind Chinese social media platform kktv5.com, Hangzhou Mi Lu Technology Co, is vying for a Hong Kong listing as soon as this year, according to a banker that pitched for the IPO.

Harvest Operations Corp said last Friday that it has completed a C$1bn ($763m) refinancing, comprising a new term loan and restructuring of an existing credit facility.

Issuers from Greater China are set to storm the debt market soon with China Reinsurance Finance Corp, China Cinda Asset Management Co, Grand China Air Co and Pacific Century Premium Developments eyeing dollar offerings. Separately, New China Life Insurance Company has got the green light from its board to raise funds offshore.

Swift’s decision not to publish its monthly RMB tracker with any additional commentary about the long term prospects of the renminbi is refreshing. Other renminbi loyalists should follow suit, and stop trying to gloss over disappointing data.

China’s Minsheng Education Group has launched pre-deal investor education for its Hong Kong IPO that could raise up to $200m, according to bankers close to the deal.

China Development Bank Corp is making a swift return to the debt market with a floating rate transaction split between three and five year dollar portions and a 2020 tranche denominated in Hong Kong dollars.

Hyundai Capital Services opened books for a 144A/Reg S bond on Monday, its first outing this year. Issuers from South Korea have been active in DCM in 2017, but HCS will be the first non-bank financial credit from the country to woo investors.

Things kicked off with a weaker dollar fix by PBoC, while China’s banking authority got a new chairman last week, and the securities regulator said it will increase foreign ownership limits for China brokerage ventures.