Americas

Peruvian food producer Camposol is lining up a new bond with credit ratings improved after a corporate reorganisation. Camposol is hoping to have better luck with market conditions after suffering cruel timing on two previous attempts to print bonds back in 2018.

Issuers from Latin America’s largest economy finally began feeding a yield-hungry buy-side this week, as bankers say there is little sign of investors turning their noses up at apparently rich valuations.

Chemicals company SQM became the latest Chilean firm to issue internationally on Thursday, as the country’s corporates continue to take advantage of high levels of liquidity to pre-fund ahead of a potentially volatile year.

Latin American DCM bankers urged the region’s sovereigns to accelerate their funding plans after Paraguay notched a negative new issue premium in the sole sovereign trade of the week.

Latin America bankers said that this week Mexico showed again that it was a leading issuer in the region after the sovereign sold its second deal of the year to take advantage of remarkable funding conditions.

The latest battle in the campaign to weaken corporate governance standards in the US is being fought over rule changes that would make it harder for investors to propose motions at shareholder meetings. The ‘proxy advisers’ so central to US governance also face new restrictions.

US natural gas producer EQT Corp shrugged off a rating downgrade and an asset write-down to tap the dollar market for $1.75bn on Wednesday, becoming one of two high-grade issuers to do so as earnings blackout took hold.

US investors are behind the European equity capital markets’ flying start to the year. They are swarming deals, having been driven out of their home market by sky-high valuations and a volatile president fighting for political survival, reports Sam Kerr.

Credit Suisse became the first issuer of additional tier one (AT1) paper market in dollars this year, seizing the high levels of appetite for this asset class to print through fair value.

A pair of SSA borrowers hit the euro market on Thursday, raising a combined €2.5bn at impressive spreads. Export Development Canada raised €1bn with its second ever euro benchmark while Dexia Crédit Local was able to ratchet the spread in by 4bp on its seven year.

Morgan Stanley more than doubled its revenue from fixed income sales and trading in the fourth quarter of last year, completing a stellar set of earnings for US banks in that business after a year in which they appear to have cemented their dominance in Europe.

US issuers are tapping into favourable conditions the euro bond market after reporting their latest results. Goldman Sachs and New York Life Insurance were quick to launch senior bonds on Thursday, boosting supply volumes just as European lenders start preparing for their own reporting season.