IFR Special Reports

Looking to slow growth

When an economy delivers first quarter year-on-year growth of 12%, it seems churlish to moan. Chinese exports grew 48.5% year-on-year in May; the trade surplus is widening; and the latest eye-popping figure for foreign reserves is US$2.44trn. On the face of it, things could hardly be going better.

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Stories in Special Report

Regulations push lending offshore

China is continuing to rein in domestic lending as it tries to dampen its overheating property sector. This is pressuring some PRC borrowers to look offshore for funding.

Property financing gets harder

For years Chinese property developers have had it easy. When China sought to spend its way through the financial crisis, developers benefited from the abundance of bank liquidity. More recently, they have benefited, too, from the high-yield bond market’s vibrancy and investors’ thirst for China exposure. But are these markets drying up?

Banking on trusts

China’s fast-growing trust sector is becoming a popular source of funding for domestic borrowers, while it is also offering foreign banks a way in to the country’s lucrative capital markets.

The ABC of Asian equities

Agricultural Bank of China’s long-awaited initial public offering has finally hit the market, providing a stern test for Asia’s volatile equity markets. But the timing of the US$21.5bn deal is hardly ideal, and ABC has had to lower its expectations to keep nervous investors interested.

CB market shows signs of life

Bank of China’s Rmb40bn six-year CB this month and the prospect of more to follow has injected excitement into what has been a lacklustre Chinese domestic CB market. Strong domestic liquidity, higher capital adequacy requirements and rising investment interest to capture the equity upside on big financial sector names is driving issuance for now, but structural limitations may limit the market’s growth.