Americas

Bank and finance names this week made their final moves in the dollar market ahead of the Federal Reserve’s final meeting of the year, which starts on December 12.

Investors have given a festive welcome to issuers looking to wrap up their funding plans ahead of November’s jobs report and the final US Federal Reserve meeting of 2017.

SSA bankers looking to get their Christmas shopping in early were in a state of shock on Tuesday, as the World Bank brought a dollar deal to follow the Province of New Brunswick’s return to the currency after a six year hiatus. But that could be it for 2017 as issuance is unlikely next week, which is bisected by a Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Nine years after the rescue of Lehman Brothers’ EMEA and Asian investment banking operations triggered a failed attempt by Nomura to enter the big league of investment banking, the Japanese bank has got the deal bug again, writes David Rothnie.

Brazilian airline Gol returned to bond markets in style on Wednesday — just 18 months after a distressed debt exchange — as investors bought into the company’s turnaround story.

Two Latin American borrowers look set to price dollar deals on Thursday as issuance volumes in an already record year for the region’s cross-border bond markets get bigger by the day.

Argentine state-owned oil and gas giant YPF is planning to reopen its 10 year benchmark and sell a new long-dated bond to finance a buyback of existing debt, according to a regulatory filing.

McGraw-Hill Education launched a new payment-in-kind (PIK) toggle high yield bond on Wednesday, as part of a bigger refinancing package. Once an indicator of peaking credit conditions, PIK toggle deals have become increasingly rare as borrowers head to cheaper and more flexible second lien loans.

Meatpacker Minerva sold $500m of long 10 year notes on Tuesday to keep Brazilian high yield supply ticking over on a busy day for LatAm new issuance.

Brazil’s largest private sector bank jumped on strong momentum for Brazilian credits to sell $1.25bn of Basel III-compliant additional tier one bonds on Tuesday.

Argentine oil and gas company Tecpetrol became the latest Latin American issuer to radically tighten pricing on a bond sale as it made its $500m cross-border debut on Tuesday.

US tax reform proposals are expected to weigh on investment grade corporate debt issuance next year, while the decreasing tolerance of equity investors to corporate leverage levels could also change M&A financing behaviour, said credit analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s 2018 outlook event on Tuesday.