Bank of America

Broader volatility could not interrupt Latin America’s rediscovered bond market momentum, as Mexican real estate investment trust (REIT) Fibra Uno tapped international investors for the first time in three years on Tuesday.

South Africa’s Absa Bank is expected to close its loan syndication by the end of this week, as an abundance of liquidity in the loan market, as well as healthy investor appetite for bank debt, causes pricing compression.

Fibra Uno, the largest and most diversified real estate operator in Latin America according to Fitch, could price a new dollar deal as soon as Tuesday.

Just two months after a dovish US Federal Reserve lured América Móvil to the dollar bond market for the first time in eight years, the Mexican telecoms giant was again able to make the most of benevolent central bank talk on Wednesday as it jumped on a rates rally in Europe for its first euro trade since 2016.

Mexican lender Banorte became the latest Latin American borrower to clinch new debt with exceedingly tight pricing on Thursday, as bond investors showed their hunger stretched beyond top-rated paper.

The rally set off European Central Bank president Mario Draghi's assertion on Tuesday that further quantitative easing was possible, if not probable, had reached a level by Wednesday that astonished bankers. Three investment grade companies took advantage that day with benchmark bond issues, while one brought a tap.

Investors hoovered up two German hybrid capital issues on Tuesday, in a receptive market spurred on by dovish comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi. They were of very different stripes: a €1.5bn dual tranche issue from Merck, the pharmaceutical company, which was about 7.5 times covered, and a £400m issue from Aroundtown, the property company.

Infineon Technologies, the German semiconductor maker, has raised €1.54bn of fresh equity to finance its takeover of Cypress Semiconductor, an American rival, via an accelerated bookbuild.

Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) made a remarkable return to the debt market on Monday, selling a $500m green bond as its first public dollar deal in 15 years.

China’s Ascentage Pharma Group International and CIMC Vehicles kicked off pre-marketing for their respective Hong Kong IPOs on Monday. Both are expected to launch bookbuilding by the end of June.

Volkswagen surprised the equity capital markets on Friday by setting a range on the IPO of its trucks division, Traton, a few days earlier than most in the market had expected. But the deal has already gained strong investor interest.

The sterling corporate bond market has shown surprising strength for issuers in short maturities this year, but on Wednesday its traditional forte shone through — the ultra-long end, where, as so often, the curve is inverted. Berkshire Hathaway found such good funding there that it scrapped a planned euro issue altogether and raised £1.75bn in sterling.