UBS

UBS has hired a new co-head of equity capital markets for Asia, with Zili Guo returning to the bank after five years.

French digital music company Believe has fixed the terms for its €300m IPO on Euronext Paris, after scaling back the deal size amid a challenging market for new stockmarket listings in Europe.

Banks bombarded the dollar market this week, with a deluge of supply from rare Yankee issuers and US heavyweights across the capital structure.

Financial services company Far East Horizon has made its second visit to the equity-linked market, selling $250m of five year convertible bonds.

Hong Kong property company New World Development Co sold a perpetual bond this week, raising $1.2bn to fund a tender offer for a fixed-for-life deal.

Times China Holdings, Yango Group and Greenland Hong Kong Holdings, all of which are real estate developers, raised $840m between them from the bond market on Thursday, continuing a recent revival in issuance from the sector.

Banks have enjoyed a hot funding streak in the sterling market in recent weeks, with pent up demand pushing supply towards its highest year in over a decade. Some market participants, however, are worried the superlative conditions might vanish just as quickly as they appeared.

Santander and Barclays ended multi-year absences from the Swiss franc market to land a pair of senior deals flat to euros this week as funding diversification trumped arbitrage considerations.

Kintor Pharmaceutical raised HK$1.17bn ($151m) on Wednesday from a top-up share placement, while a co-founder simultaneously trimmed his stake in the company.

Silicon wafer maker GlobalWafers raised $1bn this week from its debut in the equity-linked market, selling the largest convertible bond from a Taiwanese issuer in more than a decade.

Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, which tapped the loan market for a $7.2bn bridge loan last year to acquire retail giant Tesco’s Asia business, is now seeking covenant waivers on the fundraising. The move — which bankers say is triggered in part by CP’s plan to offload some of its newly-gained stake in Tesco — has hurt lenders’ confidence in the Thai conglomerate and raised questions around its strategy. Pan Yue reports.

ABN Amro brushed aside concerns about the bid for long end paper on Wednesday, as it secured a tight spread on a 12 year deal in the euro market. It was joined by a couple of other banks targeting more conventional maturities.