Americas

Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo has kicked off a multi-billion-dollar equity fundraising exercise, taking advantage of a sharp rally in its share price this year to aim for as much as $4.85bn.

Latin America DCM bankers’ promises that a sovereign would jump on recent market positivity materialised on Monday as Mexico turned to international bond funding for the fifth time this year with a heavily oversubscribed liability management exercise that totalled $6.625bn, once switch-tenders were included.

Brazilian pulp and paper company Suzano tapped its sustainability-linked notes for a further $500m on Monday, overcoming rating agency concerns about leverage to issue 85bp inside where it originally sold the bonds just two months ago.

B2W Digital, the digital arm of Brazilian retail group Americanas Universe, began investor calls on Monday as it looks to debut in international bond just weeks after its parent company successfully did the same.

Chinese beauty company Yatsen Holding has set its New York Stock Exchange IPO in motion, kicking off bookbuilding for a $616.9m listing.

Mexican power generator FEL Energy is the most recent Latin American credit to announce bond issuance plans but bankers covering the region expect several drive-by trades this week before the US Thanksgiving holiday cuts the window short next week.

Suriname has accepted bondholder pleas to participate in discussions with the International Monetary Fund as it looks to persuade creditors to grant five months of payment relief ahead of a full-blown debt restructuring.

The Inter-American Development Bank’s board of directors on Friday appointed the executive team that will serve under recently installed president Mauricio Claver-Carone, with former finance ministers of Paraguay and Ecuador taking key roles.

This week in Keeping Tabs: what a Biden administration means, the people behind the BioNTech vaccine, the link between commercial property and bank equity, and a proposal for dealing with debts in poor countries.

Convertible bond issuance in the Americas is poised to top $100bn in 2020 as the year enters its final straight and companies look to use the momentum of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election and the prospect of a working Covid-19 vaccine on the near horizon to raise capital.

Marcelo Delmar, a veteran of Latin American bond markets, has joined Morgan Stanley’s debt capital markets team in New York, GlobalCapital understands.

Panamanian toll road operator Empresa Nacional de Autopistas (Ena) notched up what one observer called a “slamdunk” debut deal on Thursday and swiftly traded higher in the grey market. But the lack of primary activity from Latin American heavyweight borrowers was puzzling some bankers.