Americas

Export Development Canada is set to become the fourth public sector borrower to issue a debut Sonia bond this year, after picking banks on Monday for a three year bond linked to the reference rate. Meanwhile, KfW will return for its second sterling benchmark of 2019, sticking with a five year maturity it issued in earlier in the month.

KBC Group was able to approach fair value with its senior offering on Monday, as the positivity of the last few sessions encouraged less frequent issuers like it and Sydbank to try the market. Other banks not yet in blackout could take advantage of the window this week.

Online property agent Shenzhen Fangdd Network Technology is looking to raise up to $500m from a listing in the US, according to a banker close to the deal.

Non-bank lender Crédito Real will show how far investor appetite for Mexican risk stretches as it looks to become the first sub-investment grade borrower from the country to issue in international bond markets in nine months.

Investors in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the US can now begin to trade onshore Chinese bonds through Bloomberg terminals. The new access channel should slowly boost liquidity in China’s secondary bond market, said onshore bankers.

Mexico’s new head of public credit, Gabriel Yorio, has told GlobalCapital investors were receptive to the government’s messages, after it received hefty demand for its first bond issue since Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office as president on December 1.

Caribbean telecoms group Digicel has finally wrapped up a distressed debt exchange to avoid a potential default next year, after extended negotiations with bondholders. But Fitch warned on Monday that the move has “undermined” the group’s position with creditors.

Brazilian building materials company Votorantim Cimentos is looking to buy back up to $650m of outstanding bonds using funds that its parent company is set to receive from the sale of its stake in pulp and paper company Fibria.

Latin American bond bankers were urging issuers to head to market on Thursday after Mexico and Uruguay emphatically showed there was strong appetite for new paper.

Uruguay said that the government had covered nearly all of its debt maturities for 2019 after the sovereign became the first issuer from Latin America to tap international bond markets this year.

Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, became one of the most namechecked people in the responsible investing movement in 2018 when he affirmed that “Companies must benefit all of their stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, customers and the communities in which they operate.”

Dollar SSA issuance picked up in earnest this week after a slower than usual start to the year, with a rich variety of borrowers printing deals, some in record size or with record books. Conditions are such that SSA bankers are confident supply will keep coming and demand stay high for the next few weeks — cheering news for one sovereign issuer looking to make a comeback in the currency.