Americas

Latin America has been taking the spotlight in July after a record-breaking quarter for emerging markets bond issuance, but with US elections looming and all-in yields still very attractive, bankers across the emerging market world say there are plenty of reasons for issuers to continue to flock to markets.

Amid warnings about a looming debt crisis in emerging markets, bond investors this week hailed Ecuador as an example to follow in sovereign restructurings, while continuing their showdown with Argentina. Ecuador’s market-friendly philosophy appears to be paying dividends over Argentina’s more confrontational approach, but not every issuer is likely to follow its precedent, writes Oliver West.

US corporate bond issuers got straight back to business after the July 4 weekend as 11 borrowers raised $10.8bn, though the volume of issuance is tapering off as companies head into earnings blackouts.

Japanese duo Mizuho and Nomura both hit the market with new issues on Monday as the primary market re-opened on a positive note following the July 4 holiday weekend.

Philip Brown and Sanaa Mehra are leading a new unit at Citi, the latest the bank has designed for its sustainable finance business.

Argentina’s largest bondholders on Wednesday evening dashed hopes that the government’s new improved restructuring offer would achieve mass take-up. But some investors took hope from the tone of the creditors’ statement.

El Salvador, the highest yielding Latin American sovereign not to have already announced a debt restructuring, sold $1bn of 32 year bonds on Wednesday but at a hefty concession to its inverted curve.

Two Colombian companies kept corporate issuance from Latin America ticking with aggressive deals on Wednesday even as bankers reported softer conditions in US investment grade bond markets

Sodexo, the French food service and facilities management firm, saw bumper demand for its €1bn no-grow dual-tranche bond issue on Wednesday, a day after it reported a 30% drop in revenue, and weeks after it shocked the US private placement (PP) market by saying it would repay around $1.6bn of debt early as it could do better in other financing markets.

As private creditors continue to resist calls to participate in coordinated debt relief efforts, a group of Ecuador’s bondholders appeared to be insisting that another path was possible as they said the South American sovereign had set a positive precedent for other EM sovereign debt restructurings likely to follow in the Covid-19 era.

Chilean non-bank financial institution Tanner is joining the slew of Latin American companies turning to bond markets as it holds investor calls ahead of a proposed five year amortising note.

John Muncey has joined Barclays as vice-chairman of its consumer retail group (CRG) in Europe and the Middle East, while Jamshed Kakalia has been promoted to lead the consumer business in that team.