Bank of Communications (Bocom) has mandated 14 banks on its proposed jumbo Rmb42bn (US$6.15bn) rights issue; eight banks on the H-share tranche and six banks on the A-share portion.
For the H-share tranche, Bocom International, Citic Securities, Goldman Sachs and HSBC are the joint global coordinators. The four banks, together with BNP Paribas, Bank of America [...]

Equity market volatility has dropped dramatically in the last month to give the VDAX a current level of below 19%, yet it was at 25% in early February.
The rapid drop in volatility has not eased most banks’ concerns over vulnerable IPOs. The €750m IPO of Kabel Deutschland launched last week with the standard four week [...]

OSX, the Brazilian oil-field services concern, has begun pre-marketing efforts on an IPO that could reach R$9.9bn (US$5.6bn). In typically flamboyant fashion, the company is looking to sell 5.5m shares in the base deal at a range of R$1,000–$1,333.
OSX Chairman Eike Batista used a similarly high pricing strategy to sell stakes in his other holdings [...]

Brazilian commercial real estate builder WTorre’s IPO could be as large as US$500m-$600m, including both primary and secondary capital. While still early in the process – the company submitted documents to regulators earlier this week, bankers are beginning to work on a valuation.
BTG Pactual, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Bradesco BBI are running the [...]

Evandro Pereira, the head of ECM at BTG Pactual, is leaving the firm and is going on a “self-imposed sabbatical” after 18 years in the banking business.
Pereira, who was the CEO of UBS Pactual and head of Latin America capital markets for UBS before BTG bought the Brazilian unit, had already decided to leave the [...]

Trius Therapeutics, a venture-backed biotech developing a new antibiotic, was dealt a blow from a decision by the Food Drug & Administration. The FDA issued new “draft guidance” on the company’s proposed Phase 3 clinical trials for torezolid phosphate, its lead and only drug in development.
“The FDA issued new draft guidance on non-inferiority clinical trials [...]

AIA’s nine IPO bookrunners – Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, CCB International, ICBC International and Citigroup, except CS, perhaps are the most unhappy ones on AIG’s decision to scrap AIA’s listing plan and sell the Asia insurance unit to Prudential instead. The decision has ripped off [...]

Baltic Trading Limited is looking to become the latest entrant into world of drybulk transportation. The upstart is targeting a near full distribution on spot rates, providing a proxy for a rebound in global economic trade. Of course, this is a model that has been tried, but which has not proven true, as a slowdown [...]

Brazilian renewable energy company Renova Energia has started pre-marketing its IPO and announced a price range for the shares, which will be sold in units. The company plans to offer 25.7m units within a range of R$19–$25, implying total proceeds from the all-primary sale of R$803.7 (US$449m). Each unit is comprised of one voting share [...]

Landmark IPOs are craved by banks as they offer fantastic marketing opportunities in the future. But the other appeal is that a top level role can also lead to a bumper payday compared to other offerings, without a proportionate increase in effort.
As a result Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, CCB International, [...]