Americas

After strong first quarter results and in a receptive high yield market, online streaming service Netflix announced a new $1.5bn 10.5 year senior unsecured bond on Monday to finance new content for the platform, eventually walking away with $1.9bn.

Argentina’s new issue pipeline is showing further signs of picking up, with the Province of Córdoba understood to be weighing up the possibility of a return to markets, according to bond players.

Latin America’s only new issue of the week was down in the grey market on Thursday, despite investors singing the praises of the credit as bankers said the region’s bond markets were struggling to gain momentum in the face of bulging pipeline.

Three Argentine companies are preparing off-shore bond issues and others continue to approve bond shelves as a near three month break in new issue activity from the country could soon come to an end.

After selling €4.6bn of loans in March, Unilever Spreads unveiled the €1bn high yield bond portion of its leveraged buyout funding package on Wednesday. But as well as jumbo deals, other borrowers with smaller offerings are also vying for investor attention.

One of the drawbacks of the strong growth in interest in responsible investing is that many investors only want to take conventional kinds of risk — such as buying large, liquid equities or investment grade bonds. But a report out this week suggests even small, obscure impact investments have a safe risk profile — perhaps even better than mainstream investments.

Swiss seed company Syngenta enjoyed a bumper order book as it printed a $4.75bn bond six months after abandoning its first attempt.

The European Central Bank’s Ad Visser acknowledged its "flexible" approach to covered bond purchases at the European Covered Bond Council’s plenary meeting held in Vancouver on Wednesday. His remark was made in response to a question about whether the ECB was reducing its primary market orders by 10% to a maximum of 30% of a deal’s size.

Allen & Overy, IHS Markit and Smart Communications subsidiary SmartDX on Thursday announced that they had launched a platform to speed up the repapering of derivatives contracts, in anticipation of new regulatory requirements.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has proposed new powers that could allow it to control elements of foreign clearing houses’ operations (CCPs) in “exceptional” crisis situations, according to a leaked position paper. This is likely to escalate already tense relations with US regulators.

Peruvian retail group InRetail is set to send a subsidiary to bond markets for the second time in a month as its pharmacy arm InRetail Pharma plots a $550m debut issuance.

Argentine gas pipeline company Transportadora de Gas del Sur (TGS) has pencilled in April 24 for its international bond market return as it looks to refinance its existing dollar bonds.