Americas

US corporates are turning to convertible bonds to finance themselves while it is still possible to achieve attractive terms, before the economic outlook deteriorates, leading to the best two weeks of issuance volume in 2019.

HSBC’s chief executive was dislodged by the force of the challenges facing the bank. Now, its global markets division is under pressure as senior management continues with reform, writes David Rothnie.

The two to 10 year section of the Gilt market inverted on Wednesday and 30 year US debt yields fell below 2%, strengthening portents that the UK is headed for a recession, though SSA bankers showed no concern about the moves.

Colombian airline Avianca is offering bondholders the chance to swap unsecured bonds at par for new secured debt as it looks to stave off a looming maturity and clinch $250m of shareholder funding.

Credit Suisse sold a dollar-denominated additional tier one (AT1) bond on Wednesday. Despite hefty demand for the notes, the issuer only revised the pricing by a small margin as market turmoil increased through the day.

Acadia Healthcare, which owns UK mental healthcare provider the Priory Group, needs the consent of lenders if it wants to go through with its plan to sell the company, a research company says. US-based Acadia could be forced to use the proceeds of the sale to deleverage.

Bonds issued by Colombian financial holding company Gilex and its subsidiaries widened on Tuesday as the lender’s proposed acquisition of BBVA’s Paraguayan bank triggered a downgrade review from Moody’s.

Equity capital markets bankers and investors are coming to terms with the idea that there may not be a trade deal to end tensions between the US and China this year, despite the former delaying some of its latest tariffs on Chinese goods until the end of the year.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) bagged Rmb30bn ($4.3bn) through a two tranche trade on Wednesday. It was not the first time the issuer picked a curious time to sell Bills.

Recession fears are rising again as GDP slows, global trade tensions rise and overvalued stock markets become more volatile. Big tech should take advantage of high price to earnings ratios to raise equity capital now and to prepare for tougher days ahead.

As Argentine assets endured a torrid Monday on the back of Mauricio Macri’s poor performance at the weekend’s primary, analysts warned that the peso’s harsh devaluation would push public debt — which is largely in hard currency — up to perilous levels. This could accelerate a sovereign default, said Capital Economics.

Bond market analysts said that conversations about Argentina assets would return to the likelihood of default as market-friendly president Mauricio Macri suffered a heavy defeat in Sunday’s primary elections.