Americas

Defaulted Caribbean sovereign Barbados proposed two possible solutions to the restructuring of its external debt on Wednesday, though it stopped short of making a formal offer to creditors — perhaps in recognition of a warning from certain bondholders two weeks ago.

The sterling corporate bond market has shown surprising strength for issuers in short maturities this year, but on Wednesday its traditional forte shone through — the ultra-long end, where, as so often, the curve is inverted. Berkshire Hathaway found such good funding there that it scrapped a planned euro issue altogether and raised £1.75bn in sterling.

The Inter-American Development Bank this week capitalised on a dearth of supply at the 10 year point of the curve to print its second dollar benchmark of the year.

Chinese brokerage Huatai Securities has received one of two approvals needed to spin off its subsidiary AssetMark Financial Holdings in the US.

Mexico’s largest locally owned bank Banco Mercantil del Norte (Banorte) will begin meeting fixed income investors this week as it looks to test investor appetite for Mexico credit with a new subordinated bond.

Just two weeks after the IMF said it had reached a staff level agreement on the first review of Ecuador’s economic programme, the South American sovereign pounced on a positive start to the week in markets to issue $1.125bn of bonds that will be used to refinance debt due next year.

Peru will meet fixed income investors in the US on Tuesday and Wednesday as the new second best rated sovereign in Latin America prepares a dual currency bond offering that would include its first visit to dollar markets since 2015.

The Inter-American Development Bank hit screens on Monday afternoon for a new June 2029 dollar benchmark. The note is the IADB's first 10 year benchmark of the year and other SSA issuers are circling, ready to enter the market if this deal goes well.

Wanda Sports Group Company is seeking US Securities and Exchange Commission approval for a float of American Depository Shares (ADS).

In this round-up, US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin called the talk with Chinese central bank governor Yi Gang ‘candid’ on Twitter, the Mainland warned domestic tourists and students against planning trips to the US, and both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered predictions for Chinese GDP growth thanks to trade tensions.

US president Donald Trump’s latest Twitter update about US trade policy brought Latin America's bond bankers hope that Mexico debt might enjoy a better week as he abandoned — for now at least — plans to impose tariffs on Mexican goods.

Spreads on dollar bonds issued by Mexican state-owned oil company Pemex ballooned by up to 50bp on Thursday as a sovereign downgrade led the company to lose one of its investment grade ratings and threatened a second.