Bank of America

Amazon priced the third jumbo M&A financing bond issue in a month in the US corporate bond market on Tuesday. The $16bn seven tranche package was the fourth-largest new issue of 2017, but the summer of 2017 could signal the high point of M&A related issuance for some time, writes Nigel Owen.

Standard Bank of South Africa is looking to raise funding in what will be its first international markets deal for 10 years, according to sources.

Amazon will dominate US corporate bond issuance on Tuesday when it announces a multi-tranche transaction to refinance the $13.7bn financing package put in place for its acquisition of Whole Foods.

The US market is expected to dominate corporate bond issuance this week. The final new deals before Wall Street all but shuts down for its annual two week break could feature one large deal, while pricing may be affected by the ongoing war of words between the US and North Korea.

State-owned insurer New India Assurance Co (NIA) has submitted a draft prospectus for its IPO, which could be worth up to Rp75bn ($1.2bn), according to a banker working on the deal.

The US investment grade corporate bond enjoyed a huge week of issuance as nine borrowers printed deals on Monday before British American Tobacco delivered $17.25bn on its own on Tuesday and plenty more came on Wednesday and Thursday. Bankers predict another heavy week to follow before supply slows for the traditional summer break.

British American Tobacco set fire to any notion that markets close in August this week with a $20.8bn bond bonanza. It brought a $17.25bn eight tranche deal on Tuesday — the second largest bond transaction of the year in the US — and followed that with a €3.6bn-equivalent four tranche dual currency deal in Europe on Wednesday. Nigel Owen reports.

Equity-linked banker exits Goldman — BAML hires in DCM syndicate — ANZ loses debt director — SMBC adds to loans team — Ex-UBS banker heads to Citic CLSA

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has added a banker to its debt capital markets division in Hong Kong, hiring her from a Chinese securities house.

Inflammatory rhetoric between the US president and North Korea failed to disturb rates markets on Wednesday. FMS Wertmanagement on Wednesday brought a tightly priced deal that drew heavy central bank demand — although it fell “just a touch” under full subscription.

After bringing the second largest bond transaction of the year in the US on Tuesday, British American Tobacco topped up its borrowing with a €3.6bn-equivalent four tranche dual currency deal on Wednesday.

NRW.Bank racked up another tightly priced deal for the dollar SSA market on Tuesday, as FMS Wertmanagement prepared a trade that bankers expect to attract a similar central bank audience. Issuers are enjoying strong summer dollar conditions, with swap spreads stable and US Treasury spreads attractive for the buy-side.