Americas

Chinese e-commerce luxury products retailer Secoo Holding is gearing up for a Nasdaq IPO that will be worth around $100m.

Banks scrambled this week to trigger credit default swaps on the back of Noble Group’s loan restructuring in June, after the Asian International Swaps and Derivatives Association determinations committee decided to dismiss the issue, a lawyer has told GlobalCapital.

Two Société Générale bankers have been indicted for allegedly manipulating Libor and causing $170m worth of damage to global financial markets, the American Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Thursday.

Two holidays and September’s European Central Bank meeting will mean the next two weeks will offer short windows for issuance, but the success of the two deals that priced this week will inspire corporate bond issuers looking at the market.

Derivatives counterparties in the US have made enormous strides towards compliance with the September 1 end date for a grace period on variation margin rules for uncleared swaps, a stark change from six months ago.

Venezuela’s bond market access is already negligible. If market participants want to take a moral position, they need to think about more than just new issues.

Venezuela and PDVSA bonds regained some ground on Thursday as reports that the US would implement a blanket ban on trading the securities appeared to be exaggerated. But the bonds remain near all-time lows as the market weighs up the possibility of US sanctions against the crisis-ridden nation.

Six corporate investment grade borrowers took home a combined $3.75bn as the US dollar market finally took a breather for the summer after the breakneck pace of issuance for the month so far.

Two deals were priced this week in the European corporate bond market, and next week already looks busier. With a roadshow under way and four others coming up, the window before September’s European Central Bank meeting looks full.

There were no new bond issues from Latin America this week, but one EM syndicate banker claimed to be “brutally busy” pitching for September as market participants said Brazilian and Argentine issuers are likely to dominate new issue activity.

High yield bond portfolios have been left dangerously undiversified under central bank policies, meaning investors have little margin for error, French investor Tobam warned this week, ahead of the Jackson Hole meetings in Wyoming.

Third quarter profits in Royal Bank of Canada’s capital markets business fell by 4% on Wednesday, a C$24m drop that the bank attributed to benign market conditions and low volatility.