Americas

Distributed ledger technology “is on the verge of creating a sea change in contract design, reporting and settlement”, Brian Quintenz, a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said this week, as he was named sponsor of its Technology Advisory Committee (TAC).

Geopolitical tensions around North Korea did not close the primary debt market this week, as Hyundai Motor Group’s US arm snapped up $1bn from a triple-tranche deal and Kookmin Bank priced a $500m trade on Monday.

Zai Lab, a Chinese biotechnology company, was set to price its IPO of American Depository Shares on Tuesday, expected to raise at least $105.9m.

Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras returned to bond markets on Monday with a liability management driven trade that bankers say should hit $6bn at least once a concurrent exchange offer is completed. But the deal traded down in the grey market — to the surprise of many.

September has seen a variety of issuers access the corporate bond market. From regular issuers to those who have not issued for over a decade, the consistent theme has been single digit new issue premiums for what one syndicate manager described as “manageable deal sizes.” Monday saw new issues in a similar vein.

Venezuela replaces the dollar with the renminbi as the quoting currency for its oil exports, the People’s Bank of China says bankers are confident about the Chinese economy, and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect sets a new record in turnover volume.

Latin American oil and gas company GeoPark sold $425m of seven year non-call four notes last week, with the first leg of a concurrent tender offer due to expire on Tuesday.

More than 65% of the holders of Brazilian mining giant Vale’s 4.625% 2020s agreed to sell their bonds before last week’s early-bird tender deadline.

After Uruguay’s success last week, pan-EM mobile and cable company Millicom raised hopes on Monday that more local currency supply would be on the way.

Uruguay’s head of sovereign debt management said that the sovereign was committed to developing its global nominal peso-denominated bond curve in an interview with GlobalCapital about the country’s latest local currency issue last week.

Argentina’s most north-western province raised $210m of green bonds due in 2022 on Wednesday, as bankers say activity is ready to recommence in earnest.

A special purpose vehicle backing the construction of Mexico City’s new airport was the highlight in a hectic week for Lat Am new issues, with 10 borrowers pricing nearly $8bn of deals in the space of four days.