Americas

Continued IMF support and a government attempting to exercise market-friendly policy mean that Ecuador’s bonds should begin to attract buyers after the sovereign was the worst hit in last week’s rout in Latin American credit, say some bond market participants.

A managing director in Barclays' investment grade bond syndicate team in New York is set to leave the bank.

Global equity markets are suffering from their most brutal week in a decade, as fears over the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus infected financial markets. On Friday morning, both banks and investors were struggling to come to terms with the speed and severity of the global sell-off, and casting doubt on this year’s IPO calendar.

Debt capital markets bankers expect the Argentine government to mandate dealer-managers on its mega distressed debt exchange by early next week, as they plan for a complex transaction in which size could make up for low fees.

Latin American bond bankers are putting on brave faces as the Covid-19 epidemic threatens to thwart what several sell-side houses say is an exceptionally busy March pipeline.

As volatility finally hit Latin American primary markets, the only action from the region’s issuers this week came through liability management, with Peruvian miner Nexa and Brazilian airline Gol both prepaying bonds.

Guarantor: CPP Investment Board (CPP Investments)

Concerns over the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak on the balance sheets of some of the biggest companies in the world led to four straight days of zero supply in the US high grade bond market this week.

The head of the World Bank has launched an outspoken attack on the European Central Bank’s monetary policy, saying its mass purchases of long-dated sovereign bonds was distorting markets and failed to provide short-term finance.

Sergio Ermotti’s call for improvement in UBS’s investment bank could be undermined by the arrival of his successor as chief executive, writes David Rothnie.

Mexican polyethylene producer Braskem Idesa’s 2029s were the worst performing bonds in emerging markets on Wednesday after the country's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he was analysing whether he could break a contract under which Pemex supplies the company with ethane.

CPPIB Capital came to market for a dollar benchmark on Wednesday, after mandating the deal last Friday. The trade had been postponed to avoid printing in the peak of the volatility sparked by the worsening Covid-19 outbreak.