Americas

For CEEMEA bonds, 2017 was a record breaking year and one which pushed the boundaries of product, tenor, and issuer. The $200bn of bonds raised in CEEMEA, and the $140bn raised in Latin America are the highest annual volumes on record. Investors’ seemingly insatiable appetite for EM debt fuelled massive inflows into the asset class and kept the many idiosyncratic risk events – from Qatar’s regional isolation to deteriorating relations between Turkey and the US– contained. Picking out the deals of the year for 2017 was not easy for GlobalCapital’s editorial team, but after much deliberation the below were chosen.

BNP Paribas opened the new year’s unsecured market on Tuesday with a seven year senior non-preferred deal in dollars, undeterred by a less attractive cross currency basis swap.

Exchange-traded fund provider ALPS has joined CBOE Global Markets as a new issuer, bringing a new technology-focused ETF to the table last Friday.

Luis Caputo, Argentina’s finance minister, said that the sovereign will raise $30bn of new debt across domestic and external markets in 2018, as the government intends to continue reducing its financing from the central bank.

Brazilian low cost airline Gol is set to buy back more bonds after investors owning $21.191m of its existing 9.25% 2020s agreed to sell their notes as part of a tender offer launched on December 14.

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 on Wednesday, as the issuer looks to increase its appeal to traditional SSA investors by gaining double-A ratings.

Top emerging market bond investors are warning that making strong returns will be much more difficult in 2018, as elections and interest rate risk introduce more volatility into the markets.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said this week that the largest US banks had made ‘significant progress’ in drawing up resolution plans.

One of Argentina’s poorest provinces is considering returning to international bond markets in January, according to buy-side sources in Buenos Aires.

Olivier Grimonpont, veteran of bond clearing platform Euroclear, will step up to the role of CEO of GlobalCollateral, a collateral management venture between Euroclear and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

Former president Sebastián Piñera won Chile’s elections on Sunday to book himself a second stint in charge of the Latin American country with the best credit rating. But though Chilean bonds rallied marginally on the news, analysts say the incoming leader faces a struggle to make significant policy changes.

Latin American trade finance lender Bladex has promoted from within after the departure of its chief financial officer.