Americas

Two A-rated corporates went head to head in the euro corporate bond market on Monday as UK pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and US electrical systems manufacturer United Technologies Corp both launched triple-tranche deals, with two matching maturities, which totalled €4.5bn.

Texan chemicals group Kraton opened up the European high yield deal pipeline this week with a debut deal that will help refinance a dollar bond. The firm is also topping up a US loan as it looks to cut its borrowing costs.

Colombia’s highest rated issuer, Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), is in danger of a downgrade after troubles in the construction of its planned Ituango hydroelectric plant, the largest infrastructure project in the country.

Taiwan-based M17 Entertainment, a web streaming platform, has filed for a $115m IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Huya, a live streaming platform backed by YY and Tencent, has raised $180m after pricing its US IPO at the top of guidance.

No Latin America companies issued and just one announced bond plans this week as an EM currency slump sent shivers through the market, but investors said the market was far from shut.

Argentinian president Mauricio Macri’s politically bold but economically astute move to approach the IMF for financing lifted bond prices on Thursday, but markets are continuing to digest a shock period of volatility that has caused drastic reassessments of emerging market debt’s standout story in recent years. Olly West reports.

HSBC took home $6bn from a callable bond issuance on Thursday, after Barclays opened the callable market for jumbo Yankee issuers earlier in the week.

The Futures Industry Association on Thursday broadly endorsed the need for mechanisms that help deal with extreme volatility on trading venues, arguing that there shouldn't be a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

GlaxoSmithKline added to the crush of red hot dollar bond supply this week, as borrowers began a spring stampede to lock in funding ahead of a likely rate rise next month.

The last two weeks have been the toughest in recent memory for emerging market bond investors who have seen their assets in local currencies and dollars alike take a hammering amid the collapse in the Argentine peso and Turkish lira.

Rating: Baa2/BBB/BBB (Moody’s, S&P, Fitch)