Americas

Investment banking activity suffered a sluggish start to the year at the top US names, particularly in equity underwriting, but conditions brightened as winter turned to spring.

US banks tapped the market this week on the back of a strong earnings season, exploiting favourable market conditions going into the Easter holiday weekend.

High grade dollar bond issuance in the US slowed to a trickle this week ahead of the Easter holiday weekend, even though companies are beginning to emerge from earnings blackouts.

The Province of Ontario’s three year dollar benchmark this week sparked criticism from onlooking bankers after the spread was set a day before pricing. However, a head of SSA DCM at one of the leads replied that it was the “honourable” thing to do after the deal received more demand than expected.

Former senior executives at the World Bank have warned incoming president David Malpass that he must use his first 100 days to make clear to staff he is prepared to distance himself from the agenda of Donald Trump.

Wells Fargo attracted plenty of interest in a new five year senior bond in euros on Wednesday and was able to squeeze all of the new issue premium out of the transaction, its first in euros for two years.

A surge in shareholder activism is providing banks with a lucrative new source of revenue, but they have to tread carefully or risk losing treasured corporate relationships, writes David Rothnie.

Trinidad Petroleum Holdings (TPH), the state oil company of Trinidad & Tobago, is looking to stave off an $850m August bond maturity with a debt exchange and new senior secured loan.

Equity markets have recovered much of their swagger in 2019, with the S&P 500 almost completely clawing back losses from the worst sell-off since the financial crisis.

Goldman Sachs said that its equity underwriting pipeline swelled during the first quarter, with IPO interest rising among technology companies.

Toronto-Dominion Bank has become the first Canadian issuer to launch a bail-inable senior bond publicly in euros, impressing on-looking bankers by landing the deal with a very tight spread to mid-swaps.

Citi’s institutional clients group registered a higher revenue in the EMEA region than it did in North America in the first quarter of the year, the first time this had happened in more than six years.