On the sixth anniversary of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s ChiNext registration-based IPO reform, Shenzhen remains the largest source of ChiNext listings. As of Aug 23 there were 166 ChiNext-listed companies headquartered in Shenzhen, versus 130 in Beijing, 81 in Shanghai and 47 in Guangzhou. Six Shenzhen ChiNext firms have market capitalizations above CNY100 billion, including Mindray Medical and Inovance Technology. Shenzhen is accelerating development of an internationally influential industri

Alibaba (09988.HK) priced an HKD 80 bln new-share placement at HKD 112.70 per share, offering 710 mln shares; placement expected to settle on Aug. 26.

Former Pentagon deputy assistant secretary of defense Michael Mulroy said a new U.S. sanctions package is designed to reach well beyond Iran, using secondary sanctions on countries, institutions and entities that trade with or process financial transactions for Iran. He said Washington is also targeting shadow tanker fleets and other infrastructure used to smuggle Iranian oil and evade sanctions. Mulroy warned the measures are unlikely to overthrow the Iranian regime but will inflict major damage on Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by cutting off funding. He linked the choice of sanctions over military escalation to U.S. domestic timing ahead of the midterm elections and said the confrontation could escalate to military action if Iran attacks regional allies or U.S. targets.