Americas

Mexico City-based DCM bankers say that the mood among the country’s financial community has drastically improved since the start of the year, as Unifin on Wednesday became just the fourth Mexican credit to issue dollar debt in 2017.

Brazilian electricity company Cemig will return to bond markets towards the end of the month. It had failed to garner sufficient investor interest before its earnings numbers went stale.

Citigroup, State Street and Bank of New York tapped the market as the callable bandwagon rolled on and banks continued to boost their regulatory capital buffers.

Latin American bankers see a calmer period ahead for corporate new issues and some companies are already plotting deals for later in the quarter.

Guarantor: Canada

Volatility late in the week failed to dampen a scorching few days of public sector dollar issuance, auguring well for more expected supply in the currency next week. Four issuers — some of which came this week to avoid other trades pencilled in for next week — were able to price deals at tight levels, with some coming through their curves.

Amgen and Intel led the scramble into the US dollar bond market this week with big trades as corporates looked to lock in funding ahead of an expected interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve next month.

The Province of Ontario on Thursday rounded off a stellar week for dollar issuance with a trade that, like those a day earlier, was priced with minimal to no concession and with a well oversubscribed book. Ontario’s deal was perhaps more remarkable though, given a more volatile backdrop on Thursday trading.

Australian billionaire James Packer unwound the last of his position in a Macau joint venture with Hong Kong scion Lawrence Ho this week. Packer raked in $1.2bn from an unusually structured deal that included a $337m block trade, capturing the attention of Asian and US investors. Jonathan Breen reports.

Standard Chartered is strengthening its credit teams in Singapore, Hong Kong, London and New York, the bank said this week.

Bright Scholar Education Holdings had covered its $150m US IPO as of Monday, according to bankers arranging the deal.

Argentine energy company Capex and Mexican financial Unifin showed that conditions were as strong as ever in Latin American bond market as both high yield names notches blow-out new issues.