Most Popular
Ant Group gets final approvals for its massive dual IPO and reveals share structure
The Ant Group Co. logo and the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. logo are displayed behind a reception desk at the company's headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images GUANGZHOU, China — Ant Group has cleared the final regulatory hurdle for its massive initial public offering (IPO) with the pricing of its shares slated to be released within the next week. On Wednesday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission gave the green light for Ant Group's dual Shanghai and Hong Kong listing to go ahead. That came after the Hong Kong stock exchange also gave its approval for the offshore portion of the listing. The Chinese financial technology giant, which is 33% owned by Alibaba and controlled by founder Jack Ma, also updated its IPO prospectus with information on the share structure. It will split its stock issuance equally across Shanghai and Hong Kong, issuing 1.67 billion shares in each location. That amounts to 11% of its total outstanding shares post-IPO. The number of shares could increase if the so-called overallotment option is exercised, depending on demand. Ant Group will now proceed with a roadshow to
In China, Not All Triple-A-Rated Bonds Are Created Equal
China Evergrande is the largest junk bond issuer in Asia’s dollar bond market. Domestic Chinese rating firms rate the property developer at triple-A. Photo: Chan Long Hei/Bloomberg News By Serena Ng
Japanese Market Declines
(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is declining on Thursday and the safe-haven yen strengthened after U.S. stocks closed lower in choppy trade overnight as lawmakers try to reach an agreement on a new stimulus bill. Investor sentiment was dampened after the International Monetary Fund or IMF lowered its 2020 growth forecast for Asia-Pacific. In addition, Brazil's health authority Anvisa said that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University has died, but recommended that the trial should continue. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 147.93 points or 0.63 percent to 23,491.53, after touching a low of 23,459.77 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Wednesday. Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is down 0.2 percent, while Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Meanwhile, the major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are declining more than 1 percent each, Sony is lower by almost 1 percent and Panasonic is down 0.3 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is lower by almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down 0.6 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing 2 percent and Toyota is declining almost 1 percent.
NSW, Victoria house prices plunged as pandemic took hold, new data shows
Its first Property and Mortgage Insights report reveals that settlement volumes crashed after the pandemic struck, dropping from 20 per cent year-on-year growth in January to declines in May and June because of COVID-19 lockdowns. The volume of homes and other real estate changing hands has since steadily recovered, and by the end of September was above 2019 levels, PEXA said. At the same time, refinancing of mortgages soared from about 20 per cent growth in January to more than 70 per cent in June, driven by mortgage stress, fear of the pandemic's economic fallout, and property owners shopping around for better loan deals as interest rates hit record lows. "This contributed to a 27 per cent increase in total refinances in the first nine months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019," the report said. The report also identifies a significant lending shift from small lenders back to the big four banks in most states as owners sign new mortgages and refinance their properties. Two years ago, Australia fulfilled a decades-long quest to make digital e-conveyancing the norm across the property sector, which settles $300 billion worth of transactions annually. The two largest states made
