Northeast Asia

China has come in for a lot of criticism for introducing more capital controls since the start of the year in order to combat outflows. While such restrictions clearly do not fit under the headline of financial liberalisation, the market needs to understand that they are a necessary evil for China to have enough time to correct economic imbalances.

Deutsche Bank has appointed two bankers as co-heads of global markets for Asia Pacific, following Michael Ormaechea’s decision to retire.

UBS is losing its Asia head of corporate client solutions, who is understood to have resigned on Thursday, according to sources.

Ezaki Glico, a Japanese confectioner, sold a ¥30.9bn ($267m) Euroyen convertible through Nomura on Thursday, breaking a long dry spell in the market.

Equity-linked issuance in Europe burst into life on Thursday with the sale of a €500m bond for Prysmian Cables & Systems and the first Japanese CB of any size since September. Then on Thursday evening Immofinanz launched another deal. The clutch of deals suggests the market is wide open for issuers.

M&A in Asia has started on a strong note this year, with the first big financing — for McDonald’s China’s $2.08bn acquisition by Citic and Carlyle — under way. While details of the syndicated loan are limited at this stage, the transaction has already gathered plenty of attention from bankers, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

The first two weeks of January have not brought the surge of new issuance that many expected, but the response to bonds so far shows that investors have grown surer of themselves compared to the end of 2016. Market watchers are now hopeful that Chinese New Year will mark the real start for deals, with February expected to bring roaring trade. Morgan Davis and Addison Gong report.

China’s Wisdom Education International Holdings hit the road on Thursday, opening books for its Hong Kong IPO that could raise up to HK$1.1bn ($147.0m).

Standard Chartered has created a new head of bond syndicate position in Asia, tapping Li Chao to the role, according to a bank spokesperson.

Taikang Insurance Group had no problem finding demand for its debut, gathering $2.4bn worth of orders at its peak for a $800m bond on Wednesday. The deal is only the second from a Chinese name and the first from a financial credit in Asia ex-Japan in the New Year.

BPCE has filed documentation allowing it to issue total-loss absorbing capacity (TLAC) eligible senior bonds in the Samurai market, and the first ever yen-denominated non-preferred issue could arrive as early as next week.

Corporates from Hong Kong, China and Singapore were clamouring for investors’ attention on Thursday for their respective offerings.