Americas

Companies that pay little tax have suffered worse share price declines during the coronavirus pandemic than the market as a whole — a result that suggests investors may at last be taking notice of this long ignored aspect of corporate governance.

Diversified Gas and Oil, the London-listed US oil and gas firm, has raised £69.4m of equity to help fund a package of potential acquisitions, taking advantage of continued low global oil and gas prices.

Fater Belbachir is joining Citi as head of equities, a year after taking on the same position at Barclays. The US bank is changing the leadership structure of its equities and securities services business (ESS).

Argentina’s dollar bonds climbed again on Monday after the issuer extended the deadline for a restructuring offer, as a change in tone from the government offered slight hope that an agreement can be reached.

Five public sector borrowers are marketing dollar bonds across the curve kicking off what it is expected to be a busy week in the currency.

Chinese hotel company Huazhu Group has returned to the equity-linked market, raising $450m from a bond convertible into its American Depository Shares (ADS).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) looks likely to provide Peru with a flexible credit line of around $11bn as the South American country works to preserve it liquidity position.

Grupo Energía Bogotá (GEB), the electricity and gas distributor majority-owned by the District of Bogotá, Colombia, is looking to hit bond markets to raise around $400m as government-linked issuers dominate the Latin America primary markets.

Colombian airline Avianca filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Sunday, the same day that $66m of senior unsecured bonds matured and just five months after wrapping a distressed debt exchange that some thought had brought the airline back from the brink.

Latin American development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) tapped US dollar markets for the first time this year on Thursday, raising $800m of three year money that it will use to partially fund a $2.5bn emergency credit line designed to support shareholder countries in dealing with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chinese company Kingsoft Cloud Holdings has raised $510m after boosting the size of its Nasdaq float.

HSBC Canada issued the most oversubscribed dollar-denominated Canadian covered bond in years on Thursday, and still managed to price 28bp tighter than the Canadian heavyweights.