Americas

The sterling SSA market snapped back into life with a flurry of new deals after a quiet few weeks — although bankers lamented that the issuance door may have closed just as quickly as it opened.

Brazil’s largest private sector lender Banco Itaú was unable to tighten pricing from initial price thoughts on its return to bond markets on Monday as investors remain hesitant to add risk in choppy markets.

The going was heavy for dollar borrowers as investors demanded extra concessions amid poor performance as CVS Healthcare’s trade from the previous week appeared to re-price the market.

Standard Chartered and Commonwealth Bank of Australia navigated tough conditions this week to print deals that boosted Yankee supply to its second best start to the year on record.

US media and entertainment company iHeartMedia filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday, adding $9.4bn of high yield bonds and $6.3bn of leveraged loans to US default volumes, although Fitch Ratings said there is ‘no widespread distress’ in the sector.

The year 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, and still the task of tackling “Too Big To Fail” is far from complete.

The year 2018 marks the 10th anniversary of the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and still the task of tackling banks' 'too big to fail' problem is far from complete.

Brazilian mining giant Vale is continuing its liability management efforts, with a tender offer for up to $1.75bn of two bonds maturing in 2021 and 2022, having already decided to exercise its right to redeem all of its 2020s.

Goldman Sachs was offering investors a large new issue premium in exchange for 10 year euro funding on Thursday, as trading levels suffered under the weight of recent primary market supply.

Petrochemicals company Unigel has set initial price thoughts of 8% for its planned seven year international bond debut. The deal may provide the best indicator yet of how market appetite for Lat Am credit was affected by February’s volatility.

China-based GreenTree Hospitality Group has kicked off bookbuilding for an up to $349.2m IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a filing with the US market regulator.

Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Montreal were offering investors sterling debt on Wednesday, as some analysts said that credit spread widening had made bonds in the currency appear cheap.