United States

Christopher Giancarlo, the acting chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on Wednesday stressed the importance of international derivatives clearing as he set out his regulatory agenda.

Australian billionaire James Packer has cashed in his remaining stake in his Macau joint venture with Hong Kong gaming tycoon Lawrence Ho, netting $1.2bn in the process.

Standard Chartered is giving a shot in the arm to its credit business, with new hires in Singapore, Hong Kong, London and New York, according to a Tuesday press release.

Books for Bright Scholar Education Holdings’ $150m IPO in the US were covered as of Monday, according to bankers arranging the deal.

Ant Financial subsidiary Alipay (Hong Kong) Holding will increase the size of its $3bn loan, taken to partly support its bid to acquire Dallas-based MoneyGram, according to bankers. The news comes about a fortnight after Alipay raised its offer for MoneyGram by around $300m.

May got off to a sizzling start in the US bond market this week as 15 companies including Apple and Unilever printed nearly $30bn of bonds as the earnings shackles came off and the US Federal Reserve kept policy rates on hold.

Crystal International Group has filed a listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for a $600m-$800m IPO.

General Motors Financial Co made its first journey of the year to the euro bond market on Wednesday, issuing a €1bn four year floating rate note.

An announcement that the US Treasury is contemplating extending its curve to 50, or even 100 years has pushed up long end yields.

Investors got some long awaited supply and poured money into new issues this week as the US investment grade market sprang back into life following earnings blackouts.

The revival of sterling bond issuance powered ahead on Thursday, as Procter & Gamble brought a £750m deal that one banker said was “as rare as Halley’s Comet”. That coincided with a £1bn covered bond from Santander and a £400m debut from Martlet Homes.

China Rapid Finance decided to cut price guidance for its US IPO in order to secure a high quality anchor investor, raising $70m instead of the original target of up to $115m, according to a banker on the deal.