United States

Chinese biopharmaceutical company Zai Lab has kicked off a follow-on offering of its American Depository Shares. It is aiming to raise around $300m.

Debt investors are forecasting a rise in corporate spreads and in the yields of both US Treasuries and German Bunds over the coming months, according to a survey.

More companies are exploring the possibility of passing into public ownership through a process known as a "reverse merger" rather through an initial public offering, according to senior equity capital markets lawyers.

Chinese co-living platform Phoenix Tree priced its US listing below the initial marketed range and reduced the size of its IPO, raising $129.6m. Its stock had a volatile start to trading last Friday.

The latest battle in the campaign to weaken corporate governance standards in the US is being fought over rule changes that would make it harder for investors to propose motions at shareholder meetings. The ‘proxy advisers’ so central to US governance also face new restrictions.

US natural gas producer EQT Corp shrugged off a rating downgrade and an asset write-down to tap the dollar market for $1.75bn on Wednesday, becoming one of two high-grade issuers to do so as earnings blackout took hold.

US investors are behind the European equity capital markets’ flying start to the year. They are swarming deals, having been driven out of their home market by sky-high valuations and a volatile president fighting for political survival, reports Sam Kerr.

Credit Suisse became the first issuer of additional tier one (AT1) paper market in dollars this year, seizing the high levels of appetite for this asset class to print through fair value.

Morgan Stanley more than doubled its revenue from fixed income sales and trading in the fourth quarter of last year, completing a stellar set of earnings for US banks in that business after a year in which they appear to have cemented their dominance in Europe.

US issuers are tapping into favourable conditions the euro bond market after reporting their latest results. Goldman Sachs and New York Life Insurance were quick to launch senior bonds on Thursday, boosting supply volumes just as European lenders start preparing for their own reporting season.

Capital Group, one of the largest asset managers in the US, bought 13.45m shares in NMC Health on January 8, according to a disclosure on the London Stock Exchange. They were worth about £160m. That was the day after a £375m block trade by Saeed Al Qebaisi and Khaleefa Al Muhairi, two of the three controlling shareholders in the UAE health company, which faced criticism from short-seller Muddy Waters of its balance sheet and financial statements in December.

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Daewoo has been ordered to pay $700,000 after a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation found one of its traders had engaged in spoofing.