Americas

Two Brazilian bond deals this week underlined the improved sentiment towards Latin America’s largest economy as Banco do Brasil’s first bond in three years traded a point up the day after pricing despite coming flat to fair value.

Uruguay is in advanced discussions with clearing houses to make it easier for international investors to participate in its local curve, as the sovereign looks to integrate its domestically issued notes with the nominal global peso curve established this year.

Sir Richard Branson spoke with GlobalCapital’s Lucien Chauvin on Wednesday, after meeting Caribbean heads of government and leaders of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington. Branson is pushing for a Marshall Plan to help the Caribbean cope with the relentless onslaught of hurricanes, exacerbated by climate change.

US and non-US issuers entered the dollar bond market in a busy week, including Banco Santander, which continued its US charm offensive with a $2.5bn three-part trade.

UnitedHealth Group rescued an otherwise lacklustre week for high grade dollar bond issuance with a $4bn deal as earnings blackouts kept a lid on supply.

The SEC has hired a former JP Morgan market structure specialist to run the agency’s trading and markets division.

Bank of Montreal (BMO) became the first Canadian name to issue a covered bond in euros since March with a €1.5bn trade on Thursday.

Baidu has picked banks to list its video streaming arm in the US, as a host of Chinese issuers stormed into Wall Street this week for their IPOs.

Qudian priced its $900m US float above the initial range this week, then soared as much as 48% on its debut, underscoring investors’ ravenous appetite for Chinese fintech stocks.

A potential Costa Rican colón bond issue is arguably the most eye-catching of a flurry of global local currency transactions planned by Latin American borrowers as bankers say the bull market could hit new heights.

The Republic of Ecuador raised $2.5bn of 10 year notes on Wednesday to take its total borrowing for the year to $5.5bn as — for the first time in seven deals — the sovereign mandated an institution beyond Citi to manage the issuance.

Government-owned Banco do Brasil attracted more than $6bn of orders for a $1bn trade on Wednesday as bankers said there was a strong pent-up bid from Brazilian debt.