Americas

In this week’s round-up, Taiwan report rise in RMB deposits, investors hand back QFII quotas, JP Morgan Asset Management launches three MRF funds, calls for China to communicate better from Ben Bernanke and Christine Lagarde. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB's top stories this week.

British Columbia became the first issuer to sell a Panda with a sub-3% coupon on Thursday as its triple-A rating assured investors who were largely unfamiliar with the credit. The Canadian province is parking the proceeds offshore after failing to get tax waiver from China regulators, picking a new bank as the home for its deposit.

Consensus is growing among investors and analysts that default is inevitable for Venezuela, as oil hits lows not seen in more than a decade.

Energy investor EIG said that bondholders of Colombian-Canadian oil firm Pacific Exploration & Production faced a “de minimis” recovery after the company said on January 15 that it would not make scheduled coupon payments this month.

Falling oil prices and China concerns sent credit spreads to the record wides of recent years this week as equity markets plummeted, with a credit index options expiry coming right at the sharp end of the spike and adding to the turmoil.

The global sell-off in commodities and stocks has brought the US corporate bond market to a standstill, leaving corporate issuers unsure about when they can tap the market after the only trade of the week stumbled and AB InBev’s $46bn blockbuster continued to underperform.

The latest push lower in oil prices caused additional pain for investors this week after forced liquidations in two levered exchange-traded notes (ETNs) linked to the energy sector locked in losses just as oil prices marked fresh multi-year lows.

Lloyds Banking Group was the only FIG issuer to brave the senior unsecured dollar market this week as Wall Street’s biggest banks postponed their traditional post-earnings dash and issuance stalled at a seven-year low.

Talk about dry January. It hasn’t been the fizzy start to the year that European capital markets specialists were hoping for.

The Chinese Panda bond market has gone from strength to strength since its revival last September with the Province of British Columbia (BC) becoming the latest to issue, raising Rmb3bn ($456m) on Thursday. While plenty more sovereign and financial deals are being lined up, the future does not look bright for red chip companies. Carrie Hong and Rev Hui report.

Veritas Technologies, the US software firm that Carlyle Group is buying from Symantec, will aim to complete a revised $7.4bn sale next week after failing to secure financing in November.

Barclays insists it can continue to thrive in Asian and emerging markets equity financing and equity derivatives, even while closing its cash equities businesses in those regions. It also wants to strengthen its core investment banking activity in Europe and the US.