UK

Hong Kong-listed China Mengniu Dairy has won regulatory approval to tap the Panda bond market for the first time, and is seeking as much as Rmb15bn ($226.7m) from short and medium term notes.

UK and Chinese officials press ahead with London-Shanghai Stock Connect, China tops the October league table of foreign holders of US Treasuries, and Bank of China opens a new branch in Qatar.

Conviviality, the UK alcohol distributor that owns Bargain Booze and Wine Rack, has completed a £30m share sale to finance its takeover of a portfolio of stores from WS Retail, a division of Palmer & Harvey, the UK wholesaler that fell into administration in November.

British and Chinese officials consider launching a bond link between the two countries, Hong Kong and National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) sign agreement to promote the city’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Man Group sets up the first fund under its private fund management (PFM) licence.

We need to talk about capital. But language makes it difficult.

The turn in investor sentiment against real estate investment trust IPOs was demonstrated again on Wednesday when Aviva Investors, one of the UK’s biggest commercial landlords, pulled its new fund due to a lack of demand.

BioPharma Credit, the closed end investment fund that provides debt capital for the life sciences industry, raised $153.9m in an accelerated bookbuild yesterday to fund investments.

Europe's largest property company Unibail-Rodamco announced an agreed offer of $15.7bn for the equity of Westfield Corp, the Australian shopping centre operator, on Tuesday. The deal, which valued the enterprise at $24.7bn, was the second retail property consolidation in a week as the sector comes under the M&A spotlight, writes Nigel Owen.

Savannah Petroleum, the UK oil and gas company focusing on African exploration, has announced a range of 40p to 50p a share for a follow-on share placing to fund its acquisition of the Nigerian oil and gas assets of Seven Energy.

Société Générale has arranged a €142.6m green loan for Brittany Ferries, to finance the company’s first ferry powered by liquefied natural gas.

Tullow Oil, the oil company headquartered in London but with operations predominantly in Africa, has signed $2.5bn of reserve-based lending (RBL) facilities to refinance existing deals with its relationship banks.

Charges levelled against HSBC by the US Department of Justice have expired, according to a statement fhe bank.