Americas

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.

In this round-up, US president Donald Trump warned of higher tariffs should his Chinese counterpart not meet him at G20, UBS’s chief economist employed questionable language when discussing the rise of Chinese consumer prices, and total exports edged up in May while exports to the US fell again.

Peru returned to bond markets on Thursday with a dual currency deal that included a rare dollar issue that some on the deal reckoned had been priced the country’s better rated peer, Chile.

Mexico’s largest locally owned bank, Banco Mercantil del Norte (Banorte), has begun meeting fixed income investors as it looks to test investor appetite for the country's credit with a new subordinated bond.

A creditor group owning a majority of Barbados’s international bonds is set to bat away the government’s latest restructuring proposals, GlobalCapital understands.