Americas

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng is aiming to raise up to $100m from a listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Ke Holdings has kicked off bookbuilding for a $2bn US listing. But it has come as one of its largest shareholders, internet giant Tencent Holdings, was blindsided by the US with sanctions.

Freeline, the UK gene therapeutics company, has priced its IPO on the Nasdaq exchange at the top of the pricing range, with investors willing to pay a big premium for the stock. The company is the latest deal in a global biotech issuance spree that has passed $60bn.

In this round-up, China and the US will examine the progress made from the phase one trade deal, the Chinese foreign minister says a ‘new Cold War’ is not what Beijing wants, and a pair of executive orders by president Donald Trump will ban US transactions involving WeChat and TikTok’s parent companies.

The unprecedented central role real money investors played in debt talks with Argentina and Ecuador could change the nature of sovereign restructuring, experts said, after the two countries this week reached agreements with creditors over billions of dollars of bonds. Oliver West and Ross Lancaster report.

The first ever international bond issued by government-owned lender Banco Nacional de Panamá (Banconal) performed well on the break this week as investors said the deal offered a healthy pick-up to the sovereign curve.

Subordinated debt transactions in dollars from a trio of European banks left no doubts about the strength of the Yankee market this week. Bookrunners are encouraging issuers to execute trades in the asset class quickly, as they are unlikely to encounter better conditions before the end of this year, writes David Freitas.

Equity capital markets bankers are hoping that global markets maintain the extraordinary bullishness of the last few weeks in what should prove a busy final quarter of the year for issuance. But an unholy trinity of risks are causing concern, particularly for IPOs.

Carnival Cruises has launched a partial buy-back of the $2bn three year 5.75% convertible bond it issued in April to provide itself with more liquidity during the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Several corporate issuers in Latin America could be on the cusp of losing their investment grade status, warned Fitch Ratings on Wednesday, with commodities-related businesses at particular risk.

Slawomir Krupa will replace Séverin Cabannes to lead Société Générale’s global banking and investor solutions (GBIS) activities from next year. The division reported a net loss of €604m in the first half of the year.

Telecom Argentina said on Tuesday that it would issue nearly $389m of amortising bonds maturing in 2025 as a result of a successful debt exchange and raising $135m in new money.