Americas

International bonds issued by El Salvador and Costa Rica are proving to be a sweet spot for EM investors, with the notes extending their rally this week as both countries look closer than ever to signing IMF programmes. But there are risks to the positive credit narratives driving the performance of both sovereigns, analysts warned.

Sameer Rehman, director of debt and capital markets at TD Securities in London, is heading back to Toronto after 12 years in the UK to focus on Canadian public sector borrowers.

Blank cheque firm Magnum Opus Acquisition has set in motion a $200m New York Stock Exchange IPO, filing paperwork with the US regulator on Monday.

Argentina’s northernmost province, Jujuy, said on Monday evening that it had reached an agreement with more than half the holders of its $210m green bond regarding a restructuring proposal that would grant it significant short-term debt relief.

South America’s largest beef exporter, Minerva, will look to price a new 10 year non-call five bond on Wednesday as part of a liability management exercise that will be debt-neutral or debt-negative.

Tuya, an internet-of-things cloud platform provider, is eyeing around $100m from an IPO of American depositary shares (ADS).

Brazilian mining giant Vale said on Friday that it plans to prepay its €750m January 2023s as record iron ore prices allowed it to build cash levels greater than its gross debt.

Bank of Nova Scotia returned to the dollar market with its first new trade in five months this week, after reporting its fiscal first quarter earnings. It was followed by Truist Financial selling an inaugural social bond.

A new special purpose acquisition company backed by Tidjane Thiam, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, has raised $300m from investors.

El Salvador’s bonds retained recent gains on Thursday as EM’s riskiest credits proved resilient to the week’s US Treasury sell-off, with bondholders hoping that Sunday’s mid-term elections will give president Nayib Bukele the political capital he requires to implement an IMF programme.

Emerging market assets took a hit after several days of US rates volatility this week as market participants braced for further gyrations and issuers avoided raising dollar bonds. Market participants are praying that further central bank stimulus will pacify markets and believe that the asset class is far better prepared for higher rates than it was for the 2013 taper tantrum. Oliver West, Lewis McLellan and Mariam Meskin report.

Spreads on Petrobras’s bonds recovered most of their lost ground this week after a sharp sell-off followed Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro sacking the company’s chief executive on Monday. But while strong quarterly results released on Wednesday were a reminder of the state-owned oil and gas giant’s fundamental strength, Bolsonaro’s actions have led to questions around policy decisions in an economy with major fiscal issues.