Americas

The passage of the US tax reform bill has helped US high yield spreads contract to their tightest level in ten years in the first two weeks of the year, drawing in borrowers to refinance existing debt and push out their maturity profiles.

Two corporate issuers are making early moves into the capital markets this year without waiting for sovereign issuers to establish benchmarks, showing the strength of funding conditions in emerging market debt, said bankers.

After Latin American issuers burst into the market in the first week of the year for the first time ever, Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig became the fifth company from the region to announce a roadshow and keep up primary market momentum.

US insurers MetLife and New York Life joined seven Yankee bank borrowers in a blistering start to 2018 for the dollar market, despite a snow storm battering the East Coast of the US this week.

Below-freezing temperatures in New York that left several EM bond market participants working from home on Thursday could not stop Latin American borrowers from bringing early heat to 2018.

Two Brazilian companies could tap international bond markets as soon as next week after announcing fixed income investor meetings.

The head of Mexico’s public credit office told GlobalCapital that the Latin American sovereign had been particularly keen to set a strong precedent for the country’s issuers after it kicked off a potentially volatile year with a $3.2bn blowout dual-tranche.

The dollar market picked up where it left off in 2017 with tight pricing and bulging order books as borrowers hit the ground running.

The sterling covered bond market enjoyed a strong start to the year, with four issuers raising a collective £3.7bn. Barclays priced the first deal of the year, which also happened to be one of the longest and largest.

A new dollar benchmark could be on the cards for multilateral lender Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei), the bank’s CFO told GlobalCapital, as the issuer looks to increase its appeal to traditional SSA investors by gaining double-A ratings.

IHS Markit on Wednesday announced that Lord Browne of Madingley and Nicoletta Giadrossi have joined as board directors of the company, while its president and COO Lance Uggla became CEO on January 1.

Mexico returned to its habitual role of opening the Latin American bond markets for the year on Wednesday with a $2.6bn trade including a tap of its 2048s to make the most of an exceptionally flat curve.