Americas

EIG Global Energy Partners is unlikely to succeed in its second bid to acquire Colombian-Canadian oil firm Pacific Exploration & Production, according to bondholders that have already signed up to a restructuring with private equity firm Catalyst Capital.

As the $100bn-plus IPO of Saudi Aramco nears its launch, the UK’s Telegraph has most recently hinted at a three-way foreign listing, conducted across London, New York and Hong Kong. Columnist Philippe Espinasse looks at the practicalities and advantages (as well as disadvantages) for the oil behemoth of listing in Asia.

Banco de Bogotá’s new subordinated bonds closed higher in the grey market on Monday after the Colombian bank offered a hefty new issue premium that left investors who liked the issuer chuffed at the fact the deal had come on a tough day.

The US Department of Labor’s new conflict of interest regulations will change the way structured products are packaged and sold to retail retirement accounts, law firm Morrison & Foerster has warned. And although implementation is nearly a year away, the scope and complexity of likely programme changes require immediate attention from both manufacturers and distributors of structured products.

Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes, the Brazilian low cost airline, insisted on Friday that its proposal to bondholders is “good and fair”, despite a committee owning 25% of its senior bonds claiming that the company had rejected “repeated requests” to engage in discussions with bondholders.

Brazilian bonds reacted only slightly on Friday after Fitch downgraded the sovereign another notch, to BB, and kept the government’s rating on negative outlook.

The Argentine province of Neuquén raised $235m of bonds this week, pricing at a yield more than 150bp less than where it had talked about a similar deal last September. The province's deal is the first Argentine bond since the sovereign’s blowout return to bond markets last month.

Brazilian low-cost airline Gol received a triple downgrade this week after announcing a bond exchange that rating agencies qualified as distressed in what has become a familiar story for Latin American corporate credits.

Money market fund reform regulation that comes into force in October this year will have serious consequences for banks’ funding. What are they doing about it?

The efforts of regulators to curb the potential for systemic shock caused when big banks fail took a step forward this week, as the US Federal Reserve Board proposed rules that would enforce stays on contractual termination rights between counterparties in different countries. But there are still strong incentives for buyside participants to oppose the plans.

Barclays and BNP Paribas became the first European banks to tap the Yankee market for subordinated paper for almost a month this week.

Oil giant Shell led a big surge in dollar bond market issuance this week as a procession of blue chip corporates emerged from earnings blackout to take advantage of a strong backdrop and print almost $20bn in fresh supply.