UBS

UK retailer J Sainsbury’s has signed a £3.5bn loan package to back its acquisition of Walmart-owned Asda, with the company raising more debt than the cash component of the deal despite analysts raising concerns about the borrower’s recent debt levels.

Hong Kong was inundated with IPO filings this week as banks sought to give themselves enough runway to launch deals before the end of the year.

Consus Real Estate, the German property development company, has fixed the terms for a €287m capital increase that it announced last month to finance its pipeline projects.

Something strange is occurring in Switzerland, where the Swiss franc bond market is rife with both deep optimism and pessimism. Deal execution is riskier than it has been for years, but is being driven by bond buyers’ perceptions of better times ahead. Silas Brown asks whether the market is about to regain its mojo or if this is a case of jam tomorrow.

Chinese technology unicorn Meituan Dianping is seeking an IPO in Hong Kong that could raise upwards of $4bn.

Chinese steel e-commerce platform Zhaogang.com is seeking the green light for a Hong Kong IPO of up to $400m, according to a banker close to the deal.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has put the IPO plans of real estate company Lodha Developers on hold while it examines "past violations".

Wise Talent Information Technology Co, owner of recruitment website Liepin.com, has bagged HK$2.9bn ($369.6m) after pricing its Hong Kong IPO near the top of guidance.

China's Zhenro Properties Group opted for a slightly unusual bookbuilding process for its debut public dollar transaction, paying a yield of 11.5% for a two year bond.

UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland tapped into the resilience of the dollar market this week, as they printed well-received trades amid volatile conditions.

Spanish electricity utility Iberdrola has been one of the leading corporate issuers of green bonds and, on Thursday, it took its total green issuance to more than €7bn with its latest offering.

Clients of bank index platforms are adapting to a new investment climate, increasingly opting for more defensive strategies and specifically positioning for volatility spikes similar to the ones markets experienced in early February.