Americas

A handful of borrowers came to the dollar bond market this week, front-loading supply ahead of the final Federal Open Market Committee meeting of 2019.

Credit Suisse expects to make a pre-tax loss in its investment banking and capital markets (IBCM) division this year, it said at an investor day on Wednesday. But it pointed to a strong pipeline for 2020.

Investors gobbled up a high yield bond offering by US plastic packaging company Berry on Thursday, encouraging the company to increase the size twice, eventually reaching over €1bn. Berry is the only speculative grade company to issue a major bond this week in Europe, as most issuers stayed away from a market anxious about the UK general election.

OneConnect Financial Technology Co, a unit of Chinese conglomerate Ping An Group, reduced the size and price range of its New York Stock Exchange listing on Wednesday, a day before it was to be priced.

Mexican chemicals company Cydsa is likely to tap bond markets on Thursday as smaller LatAm issuers continue to raise funding ahead of what is likely to be a busy January.

Indian Oil Corp’s Canadian subsidiary, IndOil Montney, has returned to the loan market for a C$580m ($438m) five year deal. Unlike the last time, when it was primarily focusing on US and Canadian banks, the latest deal is targeting Asian liquidity.

Colombian lender Bancolombia made a late year dash to international markets on Tuesday as it sold Basel III-compliant subordinated notes to fund the buy-back of old style tier two bonds.

Equity markets, particularly European ones, are largely focusing on the UK election as the last opportunity for pre-Christmas volatility. But investors should remember that other shocks remain possible, including the scheduled imposition of US trade tariffs on China on Sunday.

Three Chinese banks have provided Jiangxi Copper Company with a $700m loan to support its acquisition of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals (FQM).

Colombian airline Avianca has finally completed negotiations with existing creditors, allowing it to wrap up a much-anticipated $250m loan from United Airlines and Kingsland Holdings as well as $125m in financing from new investors.

Another packaging company is hunting for better financing terms in the issuer-friendly European high yield bond market. Berry Global follows companies such as Crown, Ball, Smurfit Kappa, Owen-Illinois and Ardagh with an ambitious refinancing that could be priced as early as Thursday — the day of the UK general election.

European equity capital markets bankers are seeing a pick-up in appetite from US-domiciled funds looking across the Atlantic for outperformance.