Americas

"Difficult" seems to be the word on the lips of every equity capital market participant this week. Bankers, including those working on super-yacht builder Ferretti's IPO, and deal sponsors have found themselves battling against weak investor sentiment, driven by poor trading in some new deals, market volatility and a desire among fund managers to protect their performance as the year end approaches, writes Sam Kerr.

Vinit Sahni, co-founder of fintech start-up Arkera and a former senior rates banker, says that his company will help bond buyers take advantage of, what he believes will be, an upturn in local currency bonds ahead of the US election.

The US’s announcement this week that it was putting a whole host of Chinese companies on its blacklist for alleged involvement in human rights abuses is set to hit some of them hard. One of the victims is artificial intelligence (AI) leader Megvii Technology, which has been working on a billion-dollar Hong Kong IPO that will now be a challenge. Jonathan Breen reports.

Stocks listed on Shanghai’s new Star market could soon be included in MSCI’s index if they meet requirements, the index provider said on Wednesday.

Fangdd Network Group, an online platform for real estate agents, is planning an IPO on the Nasdaq, having filed draft documents with the US securities regulator this week.

One of the strongest credits in Argentina will look to entice bondholders to push out maturities by turning a portion of its existing bond into cash and increasing the coupon on the remaining amount.

A recent innovation in the green bond market — the transition bond — could help expand the issuer base, according to Credit Suisse’s head of environmental, social and governance strategy. But an investor said the standard of green bonds needed to be maintained.

Colombian natural gas distribution company Promigas had a smooth time on its first international bond market outing. Bankers said new issue markets in Latin America would continue to tick over, despite political volatility across the region.

The Inter-American Development Bank has published a report promoting the use of covered bonds as a funding tool for green developments in Latin America and the Caribbean. But it remains to be seen whether risk-averse covered bond investors are ready to take the plunge into emerging markets — particularly given regulatory hurdles in the swaps market.

Q&K International Group has filed for a Nasdaq IPO of American Depository Shares (ADS) with an aim to raise up to $100m.

Paddy Power’s prospective US private placement debut has been kicked into the long grass, according to sources familiar with the situation, as the Irish gambling company instead focuses on a merger with Canada’s PokerStars.

The postponement of the WeWork IPO last month and the under-performance of other 2019 debutants should not be the cause of woe for the US IPO market, but a sign that investors are adopting similar price discernment to European IPO buyers.