Americas

Leucadia National Corporation, the holding company of Jefferies, has sold 48% of its beef business, all of its automotive equity interests, and changed the name of the company to Jefferies Financial Group — a set of moves which ought to free the firm to take advantage of merchant banking opportunities, while giving investors a clearer business to focus on.

A trio of euro borrowers picked up a combined €8.5bn on Tuesday, seemingly without testing the limits of demand in the market.

The Ontario Teachers’ Finance Trust (OTFT) on Tuesday outdid its dollar debut last year for size, as its second ever international trade clocked in at $2bn.

Online game streaming platform Huya is set to launch an up to $200m listing of American Depository Shares (ADS), filing a prospectus with the US stock market regulator on Monday.

EM syndicate bankers have said that primary market activity in Latin America is set to pick up this week after Panamá printed the first investment grade sovereign deal from the region since January.

The euro market is back in gear after a few weeks of slow issuance. Three borrowers have mandated deals for Tuesday’s session but one opted for a one day execution, coming on Monday to get ahead of the rush.

A rare name will grace the dollar market on Tuesday, coming ahead the minutes of the Federal Open Markets Committee meeting, expected to be released on Wednesday.

Bank of Montreal raised £400m ($569m) of five year funding in covered bonds on Monday following £1bn deals from Santander UK and Nationwide last week. But with fewer sterling covered bonds redeeming after this month, primary activity is expected to slow down.

After international investors placed nearly $450m-equivalent of orders for the Province of Buenos Aires’ peso-denominated floater last week, bankers and investors said that issuers in the country may favour local currency over dollars in coming weeks.

The US president says China will lower trade barriers and make a deal with Washington, the recently merged banking and insurance watchdog officially launches, and Vanguard makes five exchange-traded funds (ETFs) available in RMB and dollars in Hong Kong.

China Resources Land bagged Rmb4bn ($635.7m) from a two tranche Panda bond on Wednesday, marking its fifth outing in the market. But the issuer had to change tack at the last minute after investor demand built up for the longer-dated note.

The Province of Buenos Aires was ready to price a Euroclear local law peso floater on Thursday evening as investors showed appetite for Argentina’s positive real interest rates despite volatility in broader markets.