Americas

One pricing and one roadshow announcement on Wednesday ensured that Chile continues to lead the way this year in terms of Latin American bond issuance.

Latin America’s rising star Paraguay took advantage of low sovereign issuance from the region so far this year to tap existing 30 year bonds with a negative new issue concession, according to debt capital markets bankers.

Brazilian media group and broadcast TV company Globo Comunicação e Participações will likely price a new 10 year bond on Thursday after setting initial price thoughts on Wednesday.

Capital Group, one of the largest asset managers in the US, bought 13.45m shares in NMC Health on January 8, according to a disclosure on the London Stock Exchange. They were worth about £160m. That was the day after a £375m block trade by Saeed Al Qebaisi and Khaleefa Al Muhairi, two of the three controlling shareholders in the UAE health company, which faced criticism from short-seller Muddy Waters of its balance sheet and financial statements in December.

Latin America’s rip-roaring start to the year took a slide down the credit curve on Tuesday with two high yield deals — to no discernible impact on investor appetite.

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Daewoo has been ordered to pay $700,000 after a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission investigation found one of its traders had engaged in spoofing.

KfW and Canada both launched dollar benchmarks on Wednesday, bringing a pair of highly subscribed and tight deals. Following their success, two Asian SSA issuers prepare to join the busy dollar market.

Navigating the covered bond market will not be without its challenges in 2020. The Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation (TLTRO), European Central Bank deposit tiering and the Covered Bond Purchase Programme have collectively distorted the market, but added to this concoction is the impact of negative interest rates. Against this backdrop issuers, investors and investment bankers gathered in Munich in November to discuss the outlook for covered bonds. It is likely that new issue premiums will gradually tighten, but the path is unlikely to be smooth. January is typically the busiest month, but in 2019, issuers that funded this early paid the highest spreads. And, with the ECB expected to buy in the region of €4.5bn covered bonds a month, issuers will not feel compelled to move early. But the ECB monetary policy has unwelcome implications. Covered bonds have begun to lose value against government bonds, and this will extend if the ECB is unable to loosen restrictions on government bond purchases.

Chile will return to international markets with a green bond to fund transport plans after its portfolio of projects received a favourable opinion from third-party providers.

Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa), the Mexican conglomerate, sold $1.5bn of 30 year bonds on Tuesday more than three months after completing a roadshow as DCM bankers said that the decision not to bow to investor demands last year had paid off.

Remarkable funding conditions drove Mexico to the euro market on Tuesday just a week after it issued in dollars as a bulging order book again suggested that investor fears over the government’s management of the economy have subsided.

CPPIB Capital is looking to take advantage of a red hot sterling bond market after hiring banks on Monday to prepare its debut trade in the currency.