Americas

Mexican petrochemicals producer Alpek shrugged off a sharp sell-off in US Treasury yields earlier in the week to notch a highly oversubscribed 10 year bond in the only public benchmark new issue from Latin America this week.

US corporate bond bankers have shrugged off concerns that the steepening of the US Treasury curve could spell problems for credit, after the 10 year yield closed at 1.29% on Wednesday and the 30 year broke though 2%.

South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang is set for a multi-billion-dollar New York IPO — the first US listing from the country for a decade. The deal structure could appeal to other Korean start-ups, bankers said this week. Jonathan Breen reports.

Mexico petrochemical company Alpek could announce a new 10 year note as soon as Thursday, and investors expect the issuer to receive strong demand amid a quiet Latin America primary market.

CPPIB Capital made a strong return to the 10 year part of the euro curve on Wednesday, with a book over two times covered and a new issue premium of just 1bp. Bremen also hit the euro market, selling €500m of 30 year paper through its curve.

Mexican petrochemicals producer Alpek, which lost one of its investment grade ratings for the first time last September, was holding calls with fixed income investors this week ahead of a proposed liability management exercise that would push its average debt maturity from 4.4 years to seven years.

Banco Santander Chile sold its first ESG-themed bond on Tuesday, raising $50m in a private placement with a Japanese investor to finance small and medium sized enterprises led by women.

The size of a covered bond liquidity buffer that protects investors against the risk of payment disruption should be an important risk consideration, but there is no incentive to play safe as regulatory and central bank treatment of the asset class play more pivotal roles in valuations.

It is the year of the ox in China and for equity investors 2021 is the year of the bull. Stock buyers continue to be optimists despite the economic ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and are convinced that the spread of vaccinations across the globe will soon kick-off a festival of consumer spending.

Two SSA borrowers hit screens on Tuesday to announce benchmark bonds. Deal flow in the SSA market has slowed after the January rush, but borrowers are still keeping investors busy with a regular flow of deals.

Coupang, an e-commerce company, is planning a $1bn IPO in the US as it gets ready to become the first South Korean firm to list in New York in 10 years.

Argentina’s sovereign bonds endured a rough ride in the past week as investors and analysts worry that the government may not be as keen as it appears to reach a new agreement with the IMF by May, its previously outlined deadline.