Americas

Two Colombian oil exploration and production companies began deal marketing on Monday as bankers and investors said that continued social unrest and political volatility in the country will not stop bond buyers from putting cash to work.

Sell-side bankers say there could be up to 12 new issues from emerging market issuers this week as borrowers look to capitalise on extremely strong market conditions ahead of expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its bond buying later in the year. Inversiones Latin America Power, one of the largest wind generation companies in Chile, was one of four LatAm companies to announce deal plans on Monday.

CPPIB Capital sold its first public Sonia floating rate note on Monday, with Oesterreichische Kontrollbank set to be the next public sector borrower to hit the sterling market after mandating banks for a long four year fixed rate benchmark.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) is working to develop a regional bond market that it hopes will broaden the investor base for Central America’s sovereigns, some of which have patchy access to global markets. Cabei’s CFO told GlobalCapital that the supranational will provide seed capital for a fund to participate in the market, which he believes could eventually attract foreign buyers.

Chinese online recruitment company Kanzhun has hit the road with an up to $912m Nasdaq listing.

Deutsche Bank’s recently announced policy on returning to the New York office in September fits what many bankers have been expecting for months and heralds a return to normality. But for a small subset of bankers who left offices in London for lockdown in March 2020, the end of restrictions will also mean a change of circumstances — and getting used to living in a new country.

Brazilian steel producer CSN and Mexican building materials company Cemex continued a storming week for Latin American high yield issuance with new deals that attracted bumper orders and priced tight to bankers’ expectations — even if comparable deals were not always clear cut.

Supply was light in the US corporate bond market this week, partly because the May non-farm payrolls report is due on Friday. Participants are braced for volatility after the US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday it would start selling its holdings of corporate bonds, purchased as a stimulus measure at the height of the pandemic. It was left to Vodafone of the UK to reopen new issuance after the Memorial Day holiday.

Emerging market borrowers are flocking to the primary bond markets as ever more participants predict the US Federal Reserve will begin tapering its monetary stimulus, something that traditionally rings loud alarm bells for the asset class.

Financial institutions returned to the dollar in their droves after the memorial Day holiday, with 12 borrowers cramming more than $15bn of issuance into three days this week.

After a year-long frenzy, the primary market for US convertible bonds has cooled, following a rotation out of technology stocks and jitters over rising yields on government bonds. An injection of realism is no bad thing, however, and should be welcomed in a market that has almost doubled in size within the space of a year.

Deutsche Bank has told staff in New York that they should prepare to be back in the office by Labor Day (September 6), as the firm works on plans to allow more remote working for some in the future.