Hong Kong proves a listings hot spot in 2015

Territory sees 56% year-on-year rise in the amount raised, as listings activity elsewhere declines.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #Equities, #HongKong, #HotSpot, #Listings #MarketNews

Nomura boosts rates strategy with new hire

Nomura has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Albert Leung to serve as a Northeast Asia rates strategist.... more

 

APAC Financial Markets • #AlbertLeung, #BAML, #HongKong, #Nomura, #NortheastAsia, #RatesStrategist, #RobSubbaraman #PeopleMoves, #Research

Weigao $300m IPO sees delay as sponsor leaves

Shandong Weigao Orthopaedic Device Company has put its $300m IPO in Hong Kong on hold after Morgan Stanley, one its joint sponsors, allegedly dropped out as a lead banker, potentially delaying the listing by at least a few weeks.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #CICC, #Delay, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO, #MorganStanley, #ShandongWeigaoOrthopaedicDevice, #UBS #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

Lim Advisors COO leaves hedge fund

The Hong Kong hedge fund’s long-serving chief operating officer Oscar Wan has left the firm. He has been replaced by two of his former subordinates, who will share the duties.… more

APAC Financial Markets • #COO, #Departure, #HedgeFund, #HongKong, #LimAdvisors, #OscarWan #MarketNews, #PeopleMoves

Franshion Property block fetches $564m on the HKSE

GIC now owns 6.5% of the Hong Kong-listed property developer, while New China Life has become its second largest shareholder.… more

APAC Financial Markets • #Equities, #FranshionProperty, #GIC, #HKSE, #HongKong, #NewChinaLife #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

Hong Kong ECM round-up: Vital Mobile, Convoy, Dalian Port seek fundraisings

Vital Mobile began pre-marketing its IPO in Hong Kong of around $100m on June 8, with the mobile phone parts maker confident of a good run despite going up against some high-profile deals next week when it opens books.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #Convoy, #DalianPort, #ECM, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO, #VitalMobile #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

EQUITIES: Weigao Orthopaedic loses a sponsor

Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer has delayed the US$300m–$400m Hong Kong IPO of its orthopaedic unit after one of the sponsors left the transaction.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #Delay, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO, #ShandongWeigaoOrthopaedicDevice #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

EQUITIES: CMS gets SASAC approval for Hong Kong IPO

China Merchants Securities received approval from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China’s State Council, or SASAC, for a H-share listing in Hong Kong.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #Approval, #ChinaMerchantSecurities, #Equities, #HShare, #HongKong, #IPO, #SASAC, #StateOwnedAssetsSupervisionAndAdministrationCommissionOfChinaSStateCouncil #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

AAG Energy revives HK IPO

The natural gas producer is returning to the market after an unsuccessful bid in 2012; this time around it has already locked up more than 60% of the order book.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #AAGEnergy, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

3SBio nets $712m as IPO prices at the top

3SBio hit it out of the park with its Hong Kong IPO, pricing shares at the top of expectations as hundreds of accounts poured into the HK$5.51bn ($712m) trade, and bankers lamented that those who got zeroed were “too many to count”.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #3SBio, #CiticSecuritiesInternational, #Equities, #GoldmanSachs, #HongKong, #IPO, #MorganStanley #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

Legend kicks off pre-marketing for $2bn IPO

Legend Holdings, the conglomerate that owns Lenovo, has started testing investor demand for its $2bn IPO in Hong Kong, with the high-profile trade attracting a beeline of investors interested to come on board as cornerstones…. more

APAC Financial Markets • #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO, #LegendHoldings, #Lenovo #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

AAG Energy scores five to anchor $363m IPO

Warburg Pincus-backed AAG Energy Holdings is seeking to raise up to HK$2.82bn ($363m) in its Hong Kong IPO, opening books on June 8 with close to 80% of the trade already in the hands of cornerstone investors.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #AAGEnergy, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO, #WarburgPincus #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

Most APAC banks say Basel 3 has significant impact on capital requirements

Each country is introducing the regulation differently.

FICO has found more than 60 percent of financial institutions studied believe stress testing related to new regulations is a “core risk”.

According to a release from FICO, the report finds that the cumulative capital requirements among banks in Europe and the United States are on pace to increase more than $2 trillion from pre-financial-crisis levels due to new regulations. That finding is included in a report on the global banking sector produced jointly by FICO and Chartis Research.... more

 

APAC Financial Markets • #APAC, #AsianBanks, #Banks, #BaselIII, #FICO, #HongKong, #RetailBanking #MarketNews, #RegulatoryIssues

EQUITIES: AAG Energy launches US$364m Hong Kong IPO

AAG Energy, a PRC coal-bed methane gas developer, has started bookbuilding for its Hong Kong IPO of up to HK$2.82bn (US$364m).... more

APAC Financial Markets • #AAGEnergy, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

Morning Coffee: Chinese bank plans major HK/SG hiring spree, but may struggle to attract talent

If you’re looking to join an expanding private bank in Asia – or for that matter Europe, Canada or Australia – you may want to add a rather surprising new name to your target list: China Merchants Bank. The firm’s private banking unit is now planning a “major global expansion that will eventually pit the eight-year-old operation against some of the world’s most storied private banking institutions,” the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

China Merchants’ private bank, which officially opened its doors in Hong Kong last month, is now due to set up in Singapore by December and is looking for acquisition targets in Europe, Cai Canhuang, a senior vice-president at the bank, told the SCMP. Cities where the firm also wants to operate in include London, Luxembourg, Vancouver and Sydney.

The expansion plan comes as assets under management (AUM) at Merchants’ private bank jumped about 29% in the year to May, helped by aggressive investment in China’s surging stock markets. However, mainland private banks will have their work cut out for them in the global market, Cai told the newspaper – about 90% of Merchants’ own private AUM are currently based on the mainland. Its expertise in global markets will now largely be forged from Hong Kong.

Cai gave no hiring targets, but the firm is bound to face recruitment challenges when it tries to expand in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is currently not in the top-20 for either AUM or headcount in Asian private banking and the sector’s job market is already highly competitive and short of talent. Its lack of market penetration – Chinese firms are not yet renowned for their private banking prowess – will mean that many bankers currently based in Hong Kong and Singapore will consider joining Merchants to be a risky career move.

China Merchants may instead be tempted to lure mainland-based private bankers to join its ranks in Hong Kong and Singapore. As we reported last month, successful Chinese private bankers often aspire to move themselves (and their clients) to the more developed and lucrative Hong Kong market. The may well grab the opportunity to relocate with Merchants.

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APAC Financial Markets • #ChinaMerchantsBank, #ChineseBank, #Hiring, #HongKong, #PrivateBank, #Singapore #MarketNews, #PeopleMoves

CRCC gets okay for spin-off

China Railway Construction Corporation has obtained shareholders’ approval for a proposed spin-off and separate listing on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong of wholly owned Kunming China Railway Large Maintenance Machinery.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #ChinaRailwayConstruction, #Equities, #HongKong, #KunmingChinaRailway, #Listing, #SpinOff, #StockExchangeOfHongKong #Equities, #IBRevenue

3S Bio raises a healthy $711m via HK IPO

The mainland Chinese biotech firm generated strong demand, with the retail tranche of the offering on the Hong Kong bourse 200-times oversubscribed.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #3SBio, #Equities, #HongKong, #IPO #Equities, #Issuance/Pipeline

Modern Dairy back for US$150m

Hong Kong-listed China Modern Dairy Holdings is in the market for a US$150m three-year term loan, less than a year after signing a US$300m facility.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #ChinaModernDairy, #HongKong, #Loans, #Syndication #Issuance/Pipeline, #SyndicatedLoans

JP Morgan appoints HK chief

JP Morgan has named David Lau as head of global investment banking for Hong Kong, one of several recent senior moves within the US bank’s Asia-Pacific franchise.... more

APAC Financial Markets • #DavidLau, #HeadOfGlobalInvestmentBanking, #HongKong, #JPMorgan #PeopleMoves

These are the Chinese securities firms hiring in Hong Kong

The “Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect” is expected to push China’s equity market to record highs. It also opens up possibilities for mainlanders to invest in the HK stock market. For mainland Chinese securities firms, this is an opportunity for expansion.

If you’re a Chinese banker based in Hong Kong, this may sound like music to your ears. But how are these Chinese securities firms doing as we approach mid 2015? Which jobs are available in Hong Kong? We’ve trawled through the Hong Kong careers websites of some of China’s major securities firms to find out what they are recruiting now.

1. Haitong International

Most of the jobs available on Haitong’s website are front office roles – largely within the markets division. These jobs are mainly in its fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC) desk and Global Capital Markets desk, and include a vacancy for a vice president (VP) of deal execution. There are also some middle office jobs in risk management.

Interestingly, the three jobs available in global capital markets are all pretty senior: one VP, one ED and one MD,  and they’re all in fixed income.

2. CITIC Securities International

Among the 17 jobs listed on CITIC’s website, only four are front office roles. These include three sales roles in fixed income, equity derivatives and securities respectively, and a manager in its wealth management division.

Departments like compliance, IT and finance are also looking for new staff (albeit not in big numbers), suggesting CITIC isn’t expanding rapidly in Hong Kong.

3. Shenwan Hongyuan Hong Kong

There are only six jobs currently advertised on Shenwan HK’s careers website, and perhaps only two of them are interesting to financial markets professionals. One is a role of compliance manager, and the other an internal audit manager. Even these are hardly likely to set hearts racing.

What’s notable about Shenwan is that in all job descriptions, it says “we offer attractive remuneration package and fringe benefits including 5-day weeks to the right candidate.” If you’re a Hong Kong finance professional who’s sick of working weekends, this Chinese bank may be the places to work.

4. China Merchants Securities Hong Kong

China Merchants is looking for a lot of investment bankers in Hong Kong. Their advertised jobs span across several IB desks, from commodities to fixed income, from M&A to institutional sales. There are posts available in trading and research as well. Jobs currently advertised include “Night dealer”, suggesting that you need to work irregular hours in order to be in line with the global markets trading time. China Merchants also boasts “opportunities to rotate and transfer to… other overseas offices including London and Singapore”, suggesting the bank’s ambition for expansion extends well beyond China’s border.

5. Guotai Junan International

Guotai Junan has four job posts on its HK careers site, of which two are for analysts. One focuses on sectors and the other on stocks listed in Hong Kong market. The “Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect” opened a door for Mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks, so it’s not surprising that demand for HK stock market analysis is on the rise.

It’s clearly stated that “fluency in Putonghua is a must” for all jobs. “Putonghua” is the phonetic pronunciation for Mandarin. We previously reported that Mandarin has increasingly become a must-possessed skill for HK financial professionals. As a Chinese brokerage, Guotai Junan certainly has a good number of Mainland clients who need to be served by Mandarin-speaking staffs.

6. GF Securities Hong Kong

GF Securities listed in Hong Kong in April. However, there is no sign of a big expansion – yet. There are only three jobs available on its HK website, two of which are senior research analyst roles which cover Hong Kong, China and US stock markets. GF’s overseas recruitment looks measured and cautious.

7. Huatai Securities Hong Kong

Huatai is the latest Chinese securities firm to IPO in HK. It listed on 1 June. However, just like GF Securities, its HK career website doesn’t show a lot of signs of aggressive expansion. It only has three posts open, and none of them is a front office role. Having said that, anyone good at product can try to apply for its product-focused analyst position, which involves a lot of maintenance and support work on Huatai’s various products.

APAC Financial Markets • #ChinaMerchantsSecurities, #ChineseSecuritiesFirms, #CiticSecuritiesInternational, #GFSecurities, #GuotaiJunanInternational, #HaitongInternational, #Hiring, #HongKong, #HuataiSecurities, #ShenwanHongyuan #MarketNews