Bank of America

Metro Bank could be forced to overhaul its strategy for growth after agreeing to pay an exorbitant rate on a new senior bond this week, in desperation to meet a looming set of regulatory requirements. Tyler Davies reports.

Chinese sportswear retailer Topsports International Holdings has raised HK$7.9bn ($1bn) from its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, pricing the deal just above the bottom of the marketed range.

Allied Irish Banks was met with a strong response for an additional tier one (AT1) in the euro market on Wednesday, just a month after its national peer Bank of Ireland had to pull a subordinated bond amid fears about the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU.

Metro Bank came back to the sterling market on Wednesday to make a second effort at selling non-preferred senior debt, raising the pricing on its offer by 200bp to 9.5%. Market participants suggested the transaction was already a ‘done deal’, but warned that the interest costs would weigh very heavily on the bank’s profit and loss statement.

Merlin Entertainments, the UK-listed theme park operator, has launched a £2.4bn ($2.96bn) loan syndication to back its £5.9bn buyout by a private equity consortium. It is expected to add bonds to the financing package.

Asset World Corp, the property and hospitality firm, has raised Bt48bn ($1.57bn) from Thailand’s largest IPO by a private company.

General Electric has announced the early bird results of a multibillion dollar and euro bond buyback and cut the offer period after a huge response from early deadline investors.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (London) has closed its first green loan, a $370m dual currency facility, a year after issuing its debut green bond.

HSBC has finalised its new corporate broking line-up, after a review conducted by its chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson. It has hired Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as brokers, replacing Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.

Strength across the board, top positions in rates and FX and smart strategic decisions around the structure of its business mean that Bank of America Merrill Lynch is GlobalCapital’s Global Derivatives House of the Year for 2019. The bank also picked up the Interest Rate Derivatives House of the Year and FX Derivatives House of the Year awards.

Nasdaq-listed Pinduoduo became the latest in a growing line of Chinese companies to tap the US convertible bond market, pocketing $875m after pricing its debut issuance at the tight end of guidance.

Samhi Hotels is planning a mixed primary and secondary listing, expected to raise around Rp20bn ($280m), said a source familiar with the matter.