Americas

Bond buyers snapped up three debut issuers from Latin America in the space of two days this week, jumping at rare chances to add variety and — in certain cases — juicier yields to their portfolios.

Chile increased its first social bond on Thursday, returning to the Euroclearable peso market for the first time in 18 months with a deal that bankers said had higher international participation than expected.

Guatemala’s international bonds prices finally reacted this week to its failure to make a November 3 coupon payment amid a legal battle with a US energy company. But the Central American government’s public credit office says a solution is imminent and bondholders appear confident that default will be avoided.

Mexico carried out its largest ever liability management exercise this week, refinancing more than $6.6bn of dollar bonds with new longer dated debt. But deputy finance minister Gabriel Yorio says that the sovereign will remain very active in international bond markets in the short term and is likely to be back in dollars early next year.

In the US, stock exchanges have clashed with proxy advisers. Now, those exchanges' German peer Deutsche Börse has bought a majority stake in one of the major advisers, ISS — but says it will ensure the latter's independence.

Ford shrugged off its loss of investment grade status to return to the Swiss franc market this week after a 19 year absence to print a three year deal targeted at private bank investors.

Ontario Teachers’ Finance Trust hit the market on Thursday for the issuer’s first ever green bond — a €750m no-grow 10 year, for which it received an overwhelming response, causing a 7bp tightening.

Goldman IBD heads: Lemkau out, Esposito in — UBS whistleblower hired by Therium — New Nordic bosses at Citi's BCMA

Syncona, the UK life sciences investor, has launched a new gene therapy company, through a £45m series A private fundraising round. The company could be a future candidate for a lucrative biotech listing.

The tripling of Chinese e-commerce firm Pinduoduo’s shares this year did little to deter investors from pouncing on its follow-on and convertible bond outing. It raised about $5.3bn from the combined transactions, paving the way for further expansion and growth.

The banking landscape in Spain and the UK is set to change, amid pressure on banks' profitability, after a flurry of announcements this week.

Mexican power generator FEL Energy, which sells 70% of its capacity to state-owned electric utility CFE, priced a debut bond deal on Wednesday as investors were unshaken by noise surrounding a different Mexican credit with a long-term agreement with a government-owned entity.