Americas

The London Stock Exchange Group made its debut in the dollar bond market on Thursday as bankers welcomed a wave of deals related to a jump in mergers and acquisitions activity.

The Covid pandemic has delayed a lot of progress in the capital markets, but bankers say the industry is still on track to meet Libor transition deadlines. Investors have consented to the Bank of Nova Scotia transitioning the basis of its sterling covered bond from Libor to Sonia, while Westpac is seeking consent.

The creditor committee of Suriname bondholders says that it requires both further economic data and confirmation that it will have a say on the country’s economic programme before its members can participate in a consent solicitation launched last week.

A group of investors owning a portion of Belize’s only international bond are forming a bondholder committee and are hosting an investor call on Friday as the highly indebted Central American sovereign prepares yet another debt restructuring.

NatWest Group is looking to smarten up its capital structure by repurchasing up to $6.7bn of its subordinated debt from investors, including two legacy instruments. The offer arrives a week ahead of a deadline for UK banks to submit official clean-up plans for their old-style securities.

Investors holding over a quarter of the Province of Buenos Aires’ international bonds said they would “vigorously pursue” the legal proceedings that they began on Tuesday against Argentina’s largest province, which has been in default since April 2020. But bonds rallied as some saw the move as a sign that a resolution was nearing.

Hong Kong-based Jeneration Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), is planning to raise $300m from a Nasdaq IPO.

Peru’s largest lender, Banco de Crédito del Perú, offered a slim new issue concession on Tuesday as it sold $500m of tier two bonds, with bankers saying that liquidity dynamics remained favourable for Latin American issuers.

Operadora de Servicios Mega, the Mexican leasing company, began investor calls on Tuesday as it looks to raise up to $150m via a re-opening of its only international bond.

Zhihu has kicked off the roadshow for its US listing. The Chinese company is aiming to raise up to $632.5m from the public market, and a further $250m from a handful of high-profile investors through private placements concurrent to the IPO.

Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP), Peru’s largest lender, scheduled investor calls beginning Monday morning ahead of a proposed 10.5 year non-call 5.5 tier two bond that will be used to refinance existing bonds.

In a move expected to add pressure to the already suffering long dated Treasury market, the Federal Reserve confirmed on Friday that US banks will once more have to include Treasury holdings in their leverage ratios from next month.