Americas

The European equity capital markets are bucking wider equity market fears over a second wave of coronavirus infections in the US and bankers hope sentiment will hold even if global equity indices become more volatile.

German biotechnology company BioNTech has raised $225m via a private placement led by Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek, amid growing investor appetite for biotech investments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two Asia-focused special purpose acquisition companies (Spacs) are looking to list on the US stock market.

Peru’s largest commercial lender Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP) raised $850m of 10-year non-call five tier two bonds on Friday, offering what some bankers saw as a slim pick-up to its senior debt on the back of a nearly four times subscribed order book.

Citi has created a cross-border and public sector solutions (XPS) team, which will be headed by Valentina Antill globally, with Abhishek Kapur taking charge of Asia Pacific.

Each week, Keeping Tabs brings you the very best of what we in the GlobalCapital newsroom have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web. This week: remote working challenges and opportunities, rethinking discrimination in economics, and how volatility strategies fell apart in the market crash.

The Federal Reserve has come under fire for failing to oblige banks to stop paying dividends at a time of extreme economic uncertainty. The results of its latest stress test showed this week that a quarter of US banks could approach their minimum capital ratios if the coronavirus pandemic leads to a double-dip recession.

Two of Mexico’s best-rated issuers eased through bond markets this week, even as the country faces ever-worsening economic forecasts, while bankers said Latin America’s top names could issue multiple times this year.

Banco Internacional del Perú (Interbank) joined its larger peer Banco de Crédito del Perú (BCP) in the new issue pipeline on Thursday as it announced plans for a new tier two deal

Uruguay’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic — so far, superior to the majority of crisis-hit Latin America — helped it issue $2bn-equivalent of bonds on Wednesday with a very slim new issue premium on its inflation-linked peso notes and a negative concession on a dollar tap.

A spike in Covid-19 infections brought a darker mood to the US corporate bond market this week and has slammed the brakes on months of record-breaking issuance.

Bolivia will be forced to abandon plans to raise crucial funding in bond markets, the country’s public credit head has told GlobalCapital, after its Congress passed a bill that requires the government to seek approval from the legislative branch on the terms of the issue, amid a tense political climate.