UBS

China Huarong Asset Management and China Railway Signal & Communication Corp (CRSC) are lining up to take the Hong Kong market by storm this year, with both companies looking to bring multi-billion dollar IPOs soon.

Three shareholders in Luye Pharma Group have raised a collective HK$775.6m ($100m) by selling some of their shares in the company, which made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July last year. Books for the block only remained open for an hour, but that was long enough for the deal to be multiple times covered despite the stock being offered at a very tight discount.

Philippine real estate company Ayala Land raised Ps16bn ($356.2m) through a top-up placement of shares on the evening of January 9, in what was the first large Asian block trade of the year. Driven by reverse enquiry, the deal saw strong demand from the market soon after books opened, with shares holding up well in secondary.

Sunrise Communications Group, the Swiss telecom firm based in Zurich, intends to float on SIX Swiss Exchange in the first half of this year, as it joins the long list of issuers that have announced this week their intentions to float.

Global Ferronickel Holdings, the Philippines’ third largest nickel producer in terms of volume shipped, is set to give a big boost to the country’s ECM market, having filed for a Ps27bn ($602m) IPO and setting the maximum price at which it will sell the shares.

China Railway Signal & Communication Corp (CRSC), which helps to develop and control the country's railways industry, is seeking a Hong Kong IPO worth $1.5bn-$2bn in the middle of this year, with confidence already high that the response from the market will be more than positive.

Santander raised €7.5bn of new equity capital last week — an important deal under any circumstances. But most significantly, the deal was done as an accelerated bookbuild or block trade — something that had never been attempted on this scale outside the US. Equity bankers were impressed — and other issuers will be emboldened by Santander’s example.

Book sizes for Tuesday’s offerings of senior fixed rate deals have fallen sharply, compared to the unusually swollen orders placed for new issues in recent days, but the market is still steaming ahead.

Global Ferronickel Holdings, the Philippines’ third largest nickel producer in terms of volume of nickel shipped, is seeking an IPO of around $300m on the domestic stock exchange having filed a preliminary prospectus with the regulator.

GIC, or the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, made its exit from Indonesia’s Pakuwon Jati on Monday night, selling its entire stake for Rp1.128tn ($89.2m). Launched to the market with little visibility on demand, the deal priced at the bottom of guidance as a strong rally in the company’s share price over the past year meant investors were not willing to pay up for the stock.

Philippines’ Ayala Land raised Ps16bn ($356.2m) through a top-up placement of shares on the evening of Friday, January 9, in what is the first sizeable block trade executed in the new year. Driven by reverse enquiry from investors, the deal saw strong demand from the market soon after books opened with shares holding up reasonably well in secondary trading.

Santander raised €7.5bn of equity capital in a block trade on Thursday January 8, the biggest ever outside the US, to put its core equity tier one ratio up to 10%. The deal was priced at the low end of the discount range and led to a very steep fall in Santander's share price the day after – yet won some admiration from rival banks.