Americas

Southpaw takes a sideways look at some of the big events that defined investment banking in 2019.

US high grade corporate borrowers have been warned to expect an uptick in volatility in 2020 after dollar bond supply confounded expectations to deliver another banner year.

Ipreo, whose system is used by banks, especially in Europe, for syndicating new bond issues, has reached out to two potential rivals about possibilities to collaborate. This suggests IHS Markit, which owns Ipreo, believes the alternative platforms could make headway.

Latin American bond bankers are reporting busy January pipelines as issuers look to take advantage of low rates before the US election season hits next year.

The way that financial and economic news is reported is a better guide to variance in global equity returns than VIX, the CBOE Volatility Index, according to research by the International Monetary Fund.

Equity capital markets are fully firing again at the end of 2019, after a stressful year, but bankers hoping for a more fruitful 2020 are acutely conscious that most of their hopes are riding on the second quarter window, and that an ugly trinity of political risks is threatening the market. Sam Kerr reports.

Big European investment banks pivoted towards the Americas during 2019 in an attempt to boost revenues and position themselves for the next downturn, writes David Rothnie. With large M&A across the industry still off the table, banks are finding scale through joint ventures and alliances.

Ucommune Group Holdings, a shared work-space provider similar to US firm WeWork, is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a filing with the US regulator.

A group of institutional investors owning Argentine government bonds said on Tuesday that they have hired Mens Sana — which is also advising creditors of the Province of Buenos Aires — and UBS as financial advisors ahead of a likely sovereign restructuring.

Despite its only previous outstanding bond trading at distressed levels and its president being sentenced to 20 years in jail for murder during the sale process, Suriname has managed to issue $125m of new amortising bonds that analysts say should be crucial for a proposed electricity reform.

The US financial regulator has permanently barred former Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner from the securities industry, for his role in the 1MDB scandal.

Standard & Poor’s on Monday became the third rating agency to react to political uncertainty in Bolivia, by putting its BB- rating on negative outlook. Yet its bond prices have begun to recover.