Americas

Caribbean sovereign the Dominican Republic will hit the road this Friday as it looks for a first international bond sale of the year, with the sovereign considering a local currency component.

Unregulated Mexican non-bank lender Crédito Real sold its inaugural Swiss franc bond on Wednesday, which is the lowest-rated deal in the currency from a Latin American financial institution.

Endeavour Mining, the Toronto-listed, UK-headquartered gold exploration company active in west Africa, has raised $300m to refinance debt with a debut five year convertible bond issue that was well subscribed, according to several sources close to the deal.

US private placement specialists are hoping the market will this year beat 2017’s record of 14 deals larger than $750m. They are playing up the ‘bells and whistles’ of the market – delayed draws, multiple currencies and varied tenors – to entice borrowers away from other funding sources.

Volatility on the S&P 500 has surged to its highest point since last August as the US blue-chip index briefly halted its climb upwards this week.

The London Stock Exchange’s Order book for Retail Bonds (ORB) opened the year with a $180m issue from Burford Capital, the litigation finance firm.

The long anticipated US Treasury Department report on oligarchs and parastatal entities of the Russian Federation was published on Monday night, but no indication of the Treasury’s recommendation on sanctioning Russian government debt was given.

Aviva Investors has brought in experienced analyst Carmen Altenkirch as a sovereign analyst on its emerging market debt team.

BOC International and Jefferies have announced an agreement to jointly provide investment banking advisory and capital markets services to clients, according to a Tuesday press release.

Brazilian low-cost airline Gol increased the size of a tap of its newest bonds on Wednesday as part of a strategy to actively manage its debt maturity profile.

Entertainment One, the Canadian record label and entertainment company, has raised £53m, in an accelerated bookbuild, to partly finance its acquisition of the remaining shares in The Mark Gordon Company, the Hollywood production company behind films such as Saving Private Ryan, in which it already owns a 51% stake.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive and chairman of JP Morgan, will be running the firm for at least the next five years, ending speculation that he will retire or run for office.