Americas

Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) will sell its first public green bond in the second half of this year in euros, the development bank’s head of funding said at Euromoney's Global Borrowers and Investors Forum in London on Tuesday.

Central bank independence has long been one of the sacred cows of western financial policy, but the rise of populist politicians is increasing the possibility that it might be on the way to the abattoir.

Chile sold a $1.418bn bond on Monday, in the process becoming the first sovereign in Latin America to issue a green bond. The sovereign will look to repeat the feat in the euro market in the coming weeks.

Europe’s private debt markets are progressing admirably. More and more companies are issuing, or at least aware of the possibility — and they have a varied choice of markets. Players in the Schuldschein and US PP markets are confident and looking ahead to new opportunities, as the products grow in geographical reach, asset class and technique. As Jon Hay reports, there’s just one snag — the credit cycle is nearing its end.

LONDON PRIVATE DEBT ROUNDTABLE The UK’s private debt market is one of the most vibrant in Europe. London is the most active centre in Europe for US private placement investing, and UK borrowers have longstanding links with that market.

The US private placement market has carved itself quite a following among borrowers in the UK and Europe, with its enticing offer of long dated debt at tight margins. But since Britain voted to leave the European Union, agents are playing on another of the market’s strengths — its resilience to external shocks. Silas Brown investigates.

The City of London Corporation, via its endowment fund the City’s Cash, is set to enter the US private placement market for the first time. While UK councils are still a rare sight in the US PP market, agents believe they may be a fruitful asset class for the future. Silas Brown reports.

PARIS PRIVATE DEBT ROUNDTABLE European private debt markets are developing fast and diversifying — although many market participants would rather they became standardised. The Euro Private Placement market, founded in France, has not blossomed into a rival to the US PP. Many French issuers now travel to Germany’s larger Schuldschein market.

Peru’s return to dollar bond markets after four years on Thursday saw it clinch its lowest ever yield and price flat to or even inside its better rated neighbour Chile. Yet so sought after is Peru’s hard currency paper that the government is having a tough time persuading bondholders to let go.

Toronto Dominion Bank has become only the second borrower from outside of the UK to sell a Sonia-linked covered bond, having quickly met enough orders on Monday to launch a £1bn offering in the sterling market.

A group of US senators have proposed a bill that threatens to block the IPOs of many Chinese companies in the country, and cause the delistings of mainland stocks from US exchanges.

In this round-up, the Mainland’s industrial production and other activity slowed in May, the Chinese foreign ministry urged the US to stop interfering with the country’s ‘internal affairs’ and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) tried to calm the market again regarding Baoshang Bank’s bailout.