Americas

Chile will meet bond investors next week ahead of a proposed local currency issue that will be available to offshore buyers.

The expected torrent of mergers and acquisitions-related supply arrived this week with two borrowers taking home a combined $31bn after credit markets seesawed in the latest bout of Donald Trump-inspired volatility.

UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland tapped into the resilience of the dollar market this week, as they printed well-received trades amid volatile conditions.

Canadian Imperial bank of Commerce this week issued the first dollar covered bond in 144A format this year. The funding, which was much cheaper than the cost of raising a similar deal in dollar senior format, could well unleash a slew of supply, mostly from Canadian banks but also potentially from European names.

After an absence of more than two years, Royal Bank of Canada this week issued its first covered bond in euros, attracting a comfortably oversubscribed order book for a €1.5bn deal which was priced with a skinny new issue concession.

Clients of bank index platforms are adapting to a new investment climate, increasingly opting for more defensive strategies and specifically positioning for volatility spikes similar to the ones markets experienced in early February.

Fixed income investors should be better prepared for a trade war between the US and China, according to Arvind Rajan, managing director and head of global and macro at PGIM Fixed Income.

Thunder Bridge Acquisition began trading on the Nasdaq this week after sealing a $230m IPO. It is the first special purpose acquisition vehicle (Spac) to focus purely on China’s financial technology sector.

Standard Chartered bank has hired two people to cover macroeconomics in the Americas.

Colombo-Canadian oil and gas company Frontera Energy has returned to primary markets for the first time since it was called Pacific Rubiales with a five year non-call three trade.

Bayer’s €5bn four-tranche corporate bond offering on Tuesday not only cleared the way for other issuers to approach the market, but the €22.5bn of demand gave four issuers the confidence to sell a variety of deals in Europe on Wednesday. €3.5bn was issued in the euro market and £1bn in sterling.

Investment company AllianceBernstein says it is focused on the development of the AT1 market beyond the large European banks, as it launched a new financials fund.