Americas

Analog Devices was the stand-out issuer in the dollar market this week, wrapping up M&A-related financing as funding conditions remained positive in the run in to year end.

The Canadian province of Alberta sold on Thursday its largest ever dollar benchmark with a deal that benefitted from a double whammy of being its first as an SEC-registered issuer and a strong credit story for the oil producer following a rise in the commodity's price in the wake of Opec’s decision on Wednesday to cut production.

Rothschild has hired Michael Speller as head of debt advisory in North America, part of the firm's plan to expand the business to the region.

Royal Bank of Canada’s capital markets division dragged on the bank’s fourth quarter results, posting a 13% year on year decline in profits.

National Australia Bank issued its second dollar benchmark of the year and managed to fund at a slightly tighter level than it could have hoped for in euros. However, the more conspicuous funding advantage is in sterling covered bonds

Pulp and paper producer Suzano has sold its second green bond and the first in Brazil’s domestic markets.

CME Clearing Europe, CME Group’s London-based clearing house, has been approved by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a derivatives clearing organisation (DCO).

PDVSA is doing itself no favours by bending the truth about its financial situation. Bondholders are under no illusions about its troubles, so the company might as well be open with them.

US drugs specialist Catalent Pharma on Tuesday began offering its debut euro bond to investors as it sought funding for its acquisition of peers Pharmatek and Accucaps.

The quixotic quest of Minneapolis Federal Reserve president Neel Kashkari to “end too big to fail” requires nothing less than a total reordering of US bank regulation (and probably implies ditching Basel as well). But really solving the problem can’t just mean restructuring the banking system, it means nothing less changing how we think about money and debt as well.

Brazilian steel company Usiminas, which restructured its bank loans and domestic debt in September, has said it will attempt an exchange of its dollar 2018 bonds, which were not part of the restructuring.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association and IHS Markit have unveiled the ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol, which automates amending collateral documents or setting up agreements to comply with variation margin requirements from March 1.