Americas

Suriname’s sovereign bonds traded up in the wake of last week’s elections, despite doubts over a looming debt payment and even as a candidate who has promised discussions over the country’s rapidly rising debt stock looks to be nearing power.

Alberta made its first foray into the Norwegian kroner market on Thursday — the same day that S&P placed the province’s credit outlook on negative.

Each week, the very best of what our newsroom have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web. This week: what being in charge of a leading reserve currency actually means, how business travel might return, and a power play from Warrington Borough Council.

Latin American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento expects the social bond universe to grow after bringing forward its debut social bond to raise funds for its Covid-19 mitigation efforts.

State-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras finally brought some bond supply from Brazil on Wednesday but, as the new issue traded down on the break, bankers said few Latin American issuers were likely to be persuaded of the benefits of tapping international markets in the short term.

May has been another stellar month for US corporate bond issues, but issuance is expected to fall sharply as lockdown restrictions start to be lifted and international political concerns return to centre stage.

Bank of Nova Scotia was looking to test investors’ appetite for one of first additional tier one transactions of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, helping to set a reference point for pricing in the asset class.

Insurance company Phoenix Group Holdings launched a tier two in the dollar market on Thursday in a refinancing exercise, making use of favourable conditions across the board with a "well received" trade. But the issuance raised some concerns regarding the company’s plans to deleverage after its acquisition of ReAssure.

Nomura is eyeing acquisitions and a change in chief executive promises a reboot of its investment banking ambitions, writes David Rothnie.

Chinese streaming platform Bilibili returned to the equity-linked market on Thursday, kicking off bookbuilding for a $650m convertible bond, according to a source familiar with the matter.

A strong bid from ESG investors helped Latin American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) to €700m of social bond issuance on Wednesday as the multilateral looks to fund its efforts to support the region through the Covid-19 crisis.

Investors and bankers said that Petrobras had achieved exceptionally tight pricing on Wednesday as the oil and gas giant became the first Brazilian issuer to tap international bond markets in times of coronavirus amid a strong rally in corporate paper from the country.