Americas

This week in Keeping Tabs: an opportunity for the UK's finance sector after Brexit, and an argument for why you shouldn't worry about the stock market.

Ecuador’s international bonds recovered some recent losses on Thursday after former banker Guillermo Lasso crept into second place in the vote count of last Sunday’s presidential election. Yet the first round of the election has failed to provide certainty about what economic policy making might look like under the next government.

Argentine oil and gas company YPF will avoid a hard default after the country’s central bank, the Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA) agreed to provide the issuer with sufficient dollars not just to complete a bond swap, but also to make a maturity payment on March 23 to creditors that did not participate in the company's recent debt exchange.

Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca’s bonds fell sharply in secondary markets this week after the company missed a coupon payment on its international bonds. But the decision to stay current on, and prepay, a domestic bond left some bondholders recalling previous battles with Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Mexico’s third richest man and the owner of the broadcaster.

Canada’s Equitable Bank has registered its covered bond programme this week. It expects to issue its first transaction in euros at the short end of the curve in the second quarter.

TV Azteca, the broadcaster owned by Mexico’s third richest man Ricardo Salinas Pliego, missed a coupon payment on a $400m bond on Tuesday, leaving some concerned about the implications for other Grupo Salinas-controlled bond issuers.

UK biotech firms are continuing to reap the benefits from US listings. On Tuesday Autolus Therapeutics, an early stage biopharma firm backed by Syncona Investments, became the latest UK Biotech firm to raise capital on the US Nasdaq in a $100m transaction. The deal shows the continued advantages for early stage European biotech firms in having a US listing.

A blank cheque company fronted by Andrea Pignataro, the founder and executive chairman of trading software and financial data group ION, has listed on the Nasdaq, raising $300m.

Chinese cloud-based communications provider Cloopen Group Holdings saw its stock price triple on the first day of trading, after sealing a $320m IPO above the marketed range.

Uruguay’s dollar bonds are hot property, but the sovereign is planning to focus its international bond issuance efforts on its domestic currency in 2021 as it looks to develop the peso market and increase the share of its debt burden in the currency.

Banks that mostly missed out on last year's trading and origination windfall would find it difficult to make up for lost time by leaning into investment banking; that ship has probably already sailed.

EM bond buyers gave Guara Norte, a special purpose vehicle for Brazilian floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit Cidade de Ilhabela, a warm welcome on its first bond market outing as investors say that emerging market high yield corporates offer the best chance for outperformance.