Americas

A number of block trades were priced this week as the EMEA equity capital markets ground towards the end of the year. While some banks had expected the week to be busier, the last five days have proven the market is still well and truly open for new business.

In this round-up, US president Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs again if a phase one deal is not reached, China is planning to set up a fund to promote its manufacturing industry and the US Senate passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.

A shareholder group in Chinese education technology firm GSX Techedu have bagged $252m after selling a chunk of its US-listed stock.

Chinese company Genetron Holdings has filed initial IPO documents with the US regulator just days after getting a fresh injection of capital from a Vivo Capital-led private funding round.

The skinny pricing concessions and big order books that characterised this week’s US corporate bond issuance will not be sustainable as the year wanes, bankers have warned.

Chilean mobile phone operator WOM approached bond markets for the first time on Thursday seeking $450m of senior unsecured notes to refinance its existing capital structure and complete a dividend recap.

Two days after canceling a tender offer it had planned to finance with a private placement (PP), Brazilian engineering and construction firm Andrade Gutierrez has launched an exchange offer seeking a similar result.

It is less than two months since one of the most serious constitutional crises in Peru’s history, yet on Thursday the sovereign sold Sl10bn ($2.96bn) of new local currency debt at record low yields.

In an effort to please their bankers, US corporate treasurers have increasingly been using a mechanism called a risk participation agreement (RPA) as a way to divvy up swaps business to more parties, writes Ross Lancaster.

Teva, the Israeli-US pharmaceutical company, priced a $2.1bn bond package at the tighter end of the initial price thoughts this week. While it is yet to come to a settlement over its alleged involvement in the US opioid crisis, investors were happy to jump aboard a rare double-B issue yielding up to 7%.

The retirement of Samir Assaf, HSBC’s long-serving head of global banking and markets (GBM), paves the way for a long overdue restructuring of that division. This will test the bank’s new-look management team.

A slump in revenue growth during an economic downturn could trigger a change in investors’ risk appetite and a “widespread” sell-off of corporate bonds, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned on Thursday.