Americas

Despite the currency tanking against the dollar in 2015, investment in Brazilian real denominated medium term notes is at a healthy level.

The GlobalCapital editorial team has picked what it believes to be the standout bond issues of 2015 across the financial institutions, public sector, emerging markets and corporate bond markets. We selected the trades that we think will be remembered for their success in challenging conditions, for making the best use of the demand available to them, or for having made a longer lasting impact, such as the re-opening of a market. The FIG Deals of the Year 2015 winners are presented here.

Qihoo 360 Technology is raising a $3.4bn equivalent renminbi loan to back its delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, picking China Merchants Bank to supply the funds.

Mexican infrastructure and construction giant Empresas ICA is heading for default after the company said it had decided not to pay a $31m interest payment due November 30 before the expiration of the grace period on December 29.

The Canadian covered bond market is one of the few that is expected to continue growing in 2016. With Canadian banks likely to issue a similar amount of euro benchmark paper as Italian banks the region is expected to produce the fourth equal largest amount of supply next year.

Argentine sovereign bonds hit highs for the year on Monday after the US court-appointed mediator in the holdout dispute said that the country’s secretary of finance and vice-chief of cabinet would return to New York to negotiate with bond investors in the second week of January.

Movements in Pacific Exploration & Production’s share price left investors confused after the company announced it had brought in Lazard as a financial advisor and was seeking covenant relief on its loans.

Bad news seems determined to afflict Brazil until the very end of the year as Joaquim Levy’s resignation on Friday sent bonds to new lows with much of the market in holiday mode.

For most observes it had already become a matter of time. Standard & Poor’s had already made Brazil a sub-investment grade borrower and both Fitch and Moody’s had Latin America’s largest sovereign on review for downgrade.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week voted in a final rule on margin requirements for uncleared swaps for bank dealers and major swap participants – despite the objection of one of the three commissioners that it will be far less effective at reigning in US bank excesses than an earlier version

Good news from the US Federal Reserve — in the form of a more dovish rate announcement than some market participants had expected — brought a sanguine close to a turbulent week for credit derivatives and boosted equity markets, but only added to the pressure on emerging market countries and their currencies.

Persistent volatility has left the vast majority of bank capital trades trading wider in 2015, with poor periphery performers joined by some notable big hitters at the bottom of the pile.