Source: Reuters/Crack Palinggi People take naps at the Istiqlal Mosque after attending Friday prayers in Jakarta To see the digital version on this report, please click here. Follow-on offerings have accounted for the vast majority of Asia’s equity capital markets business so far in 2012. Slumping IPO volumes mean that follow-ons account for 78.9% of deals done in Asia Pacific this year, including Australia by outside Japan, up from 55.2% for the whole of 2011. Those figures, however, mask a gro

Source: Reuters/Stringer China Investor sleeps on a bench in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Huaibei To see the digital version on this report, please click here. Hong Kong’s IPO market has had a terrible start to 2012. The only IPO of more than US$1bn done in the year to date has been the US$1.84bn float of Haitong Securities, China’s second-largest brokerage, and recent deals are struggling. The drought is expected to last until the end of the thi

Source: Reuters/Siu Chiu Hong Kong police arrest a pro-democracy protester during a demonstration in Hong Kong To see the digital version on this report, please click here. After some high-profile scandals, Hong Kong’s stock-market regulator wants to impose criminal liability on IPO sponsors that allow false information to be published in prospectuses. Banks have until July 6 to respond to the proposals of the Securities and Futures Commission, but, if they make it into law, the rules could see

Source: Reuters/Aly Song Lightning is seen above buildings during a storm in central Shanghai Anyone with a vested interest in Asia’s equity-capital markets must be finding it tough to stay optimistic. Companies have been forced to pull deals all over the place, with another four falling by the wayside last week alone. Slumping revenues are forcing bankers to rethink the way they allocate resources to Asian ECM – traditionally, the cash cow of investment banking in the region. The global turmoil

Source: Reuters/Kim Kyung Hoon Bolt false starts in the men’s 100 metres final at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu To see the digital version on this report, please click here. Asia’s equity-linked capital markets made a good start to the year as stock markets rallied, but that positivity soon fell away. “The first quarter was strong,” said Nick Smith, head of convertible bond origination, Asia Pacific, at Barclays. “The run rate for volumes in Q1 was ahead of 2011. That was without any jum

Source: Reuters/Shi Tou A teacher falls backwards during a pressure releasing exercise at a high school in Chongqing To see the digital version on this report, please click here. Malaysia finds itself hosting two of the biggest IPOs in the region this year, and is doing so almost simultaneously. Is this a sign that Bursa Malaysia is reaching a level of increased depth and sophistication or should we expect indigestion? The two companies with upcoming IPOs are Felda Global Ventures and Parkway Pa

Source: Reuters/Beawiharta Beawiharta A woman uses her cellular phone near a banner of PT Garuda Indonesia in Jakarta To see the digital version on this report, please click here. The IPO last year of previously troubled flag carrier Garuda Indonesia should have been the triumphant ending to a complicated debt restructuring lasting several years. Instead, the Indonesian minister for state-owned enterprises made the inexplicable decision to ignore the feedback from the price-discovery process and

Source: Reuters/Bazuki Muhammad Ferrari Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain celebrates on the podium after winning the Singapore F1 Grand Prix at the Marina Bay circuit To see the digital version on this report, please click here. In the battle between the two exchanges, the lines have always been drawn where Hong Kong gets all the China money and Singapore battles to be the regional hub for everything else. Lately, that second role has started to look increasingly useful. As well as con