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As Boris Johnson embarks on a green industrial revolution, he has happened upon one of those rare moments when government policy seems completely aligned with investor appetite. The UK must use this capital markets sweet spot to transform its energy infrastructure next year and beyond.

Asia’s first blue loan has sparked debate among market observers about the potential of the asset class amid rising interest from borrowers for ESG-focused funding. While expectations are high for the blue loan market’s development in 2021, challenges remain, writes Rashmi Kumar.

Green bonds awakened the debt capital markets from their long, slumbrous ignorance of environmental peril.

China’s Xiaopeng Motors, an electric vehicle (EV) maker, leveraged on a big boost in interest in new energy stocks from investors to raise $2.16bn from a follow-on offering of its American Depositary Shares. Jonathan Breen reports.

The Kingdom of Morocco sold a triple-tranche dollar deal on Tuesday, which bankers say was a successful attempt to enter into a rarely tapped market upon investors’ requests.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena led a trio of speculative grade Italian banks into the euro bond market this week, as credit investors showed that no issuers were off limit in their increasingly desperate search for yield. Tyler Davies reports.

Jean Pierre Mustier's departure from UniCredit may help Italy in an attempt — shared by governments and supervisors around Europe — to push the banking sector to help solve economic policy problems during the pandemic.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp pocketed $3.96bn this week from a record top-up placement and concurrent convertible bond issue. Investors flocked to the transaction for its rarity value, investment grade rating and the offer of a liquid and volatile stock. Jonathan Breen reports.

There is every reason to be sceptical of the UK’s plan for a national infrastructure bank. Infrastructure is hard to finance because governments are unreliable. Combining hard assets expected to pay back over 30 years with democratic governments that change course every few makes private investors reluctant to treat long-term infra projects as a pure matter of credit risk.

The coronavirus pandemic means many parts of the US are experiencing an unusual festive period. But emerging markets sovereigns broke another Thanksgiving tradition by flooding primary bond markets with new deals on what is usually a quiet week for new issues — even as levels of stress are rising sharply at the riskier end of the asset class. Oliver West and Mariam Meskin report.

China Evergrande Group got some relief from recent selling pressure this week, after convincing a large group of equity holders not to exercise a put option. It also signed up two new state-backed investors.

By all measures, the first two transactions of the European Union’s arrival as a supersized issuer in the capital markets were tremendous successes. The order books were world beaters, the new issue premiums were tiny despite the huge deal sizes, and the secondary performance has been incredible. But while it has been plain sailing so far, there are bigger tests ahead.