It is as if the mainland never heard of the global financial crisis. Regulators in that market are embracing securitisation – the type of structured debt that took global banking to the brink of collapse in 2008-09 – with the zeal of the newly initiated.

Li Ka-shing is set to sell Shanghai property assets worth almost HK$6 billion, bringing the value of disposals made by him on the mainland and in Hong Kong since August last year to about HK$25 billion.

Orient Overseas (International) Ltd (OOIL) returned to the black in the first half of the year on the back of a pickup in the container shipping industry and stringent cost controls.

What happens when a company announces a fundraising on the back of a big drop in profit?

Sunwah Kingsway is the busiest IPO bank you have never heard of. The firm is one of the most active houses for leading small-cap initial public offerings on the Hong Kong exchange.

Following a big spike in the past five years, share buy-backs by Hong Kong firms are in decline. At the rate seen in the year to date, Hong Kong will see just a quarter of the buy-back approvals granted last year.

Analysts' recommendations are certainly not the only reason to trade a stock, but they can help investors in their decision making.

China is hot again. Following years of concerns about decelerating economic growth, a bloated and opaque banking system, and anxiety at the start of the year about a domestic credit crisis, foreign funds are flowing back into Chinese debt and equities.

These are transformational times for the mainland banks as they line up about 310 billion yuan (HK$387 billion) of preferred share issuance, including a 20 billion yuan offer from Ping An Bank announced on July 15.

Yue Xiu Enterprises, wholly owned by the Guangzhou municipal government, yesterday finalised a US$200 million, five-year bond exchangeable into shares of Hong Kong-listed Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure.

What a difference four months makes. In early March, Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology said it was unable to cover 89.8 million yuan in interest payments, triggering the mainland's first domestic bond default and creating a minor panic.

Bhupinder Singh, Deutsche Bank's Asia-Pacific co-head of investment banking, is - as you might expect - positive on the outlook for Asia-Pacific investment banking.

Taiwan's Advanced Semiconductor Engineering yesterday was in the market with a three-year senior bond to raise up to US$300 million.

When it comes to their offshore debt programmes, mainland banks embrace the mantra of thinking globally and acting locally.

Here is a scenario for the not too distant future. Global warming has raised sea levels and the extra heat is powering strong winds and driving an ocean of moisture into the atmosphere.

Just looking at the stream of tombstone ads placed in local newspapers, such as the South China Morning Post, one could be forgiven for thinking Hong Kong's IPO market is taking off.

Business managers in the Pearl River Delta are thinking more about their exposure to natural catastrophes such as floods.

Funds in the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme returned an average of 2 per cent in the first half. However, while most fund types in the scheme registered positive returns, the most common funds, such as mainland Chinese, Hong Kong and Japan equities, were in the red.

Drugmaker Luye Pharma Group yesterday closed a well-received US$798 million initial public offering. The offer, which was 14.8 times subscribed, was priced at the top of the indicated range and the deal was heavily subscribed on the first day of marketing.

China is leading an Asian revival in convertible bonds - a much beleaguered asset class.

The amount of equity raised in Hong Kong in the first half of this year has been just a third of the volume of offshore bonds from mainland companies in the same period, according to fresh industry data out today.

It is notable that of the two initial public offerings that were supposed to have defined the year, one (WH Group) imploded in spectacular fashion and the second (HK Electric) is trading down 4 per cent from the listing pric

Hong Kong has been talking about Islamic finance for seven years with little to show for it.

MSCI yesterday announced that it will not include A shares in its China and emerging markets indices, after howls of protest from investors against the proposal.

Cheaper debt capital is available to mainland issuers who are willing to take a slightly different approach to marketing. That is the message from bankers looking to bring Chinese issuers to the United States.

Dim sum bond issuance hit a fresh record in the first quarter, with US$10.8 billion issued in offshore yuan bonds in the first three months. This was more than any other quarter, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.

China Development Bank has led an 11-bank consortium offering a 2 billion yuan (HK$2.48 billion) loan to LDK Solar, said LDK spokesman Peng Shaomin.