Citi

Mexican oil company Pemex is set to “defend its ratings” with an imminent new issue, bond exchange and buy-back to be partially funded by a capital injection from the government.

A pair of Eastern European corporate borrowers are in the market for dollar paper on Thursday, taking advantage of excellent market conditions to secure cheap funding.

Alpek, the petrochemicals business of Mexican conglomerate Grupo Alfa, sold a $500m 10 year bond on Wednesday at the tight end of expectations to become the latest in a line of Mexican issuers to tap the primary market in September.

Goldman Sachs and Citi have announced a dual currency eight year secured €1.5bn bond for Altice France, hoping to take advantage of low absolute rates to cut borrowing costs and extend its debt maturities. The bond-only deal follows Salt’s successful refinancing and dividend deal, which saw bonds come in appreciably cheaper than loans.

South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix had to get over a number of hurdles for its $500m bond issuance, but a complicated price discovery process ended with the notes being in hot demand both in the primary and secondary markets. Addison Gong reports.

BMW Auto Finance (China) is planning a comeback to asset-backed notes on September 17, and will replicate the structure of its April debut in the market.

Mexican state-owned oil giant Pemex emphatically showed it has access to capital markets on Thursday as it received more than $35bn of orders on the way to a $7.5bn trade that could grow as existing bondholders participate in an exchange.

Nissan has sold upwards of $600m US private placements in the first US PP deal for any Japanese car company, according to several people familiar with the situation.

The Asian Development Bank joined the syndicated sterling issuance run started by the European Investment Bank earlier this week, pricing a £300m tap of its March 2024 Sonia-linked note on Wednesday. The World Bank looks set to follow with a fixed rate tap on Thursday that bankers feel could give a good indication of the market’s appetite for the format amid volatility.

IHS, the Nigerian telecom towers group, hit screens on Wednesday for a dual tranche bond. It received strong demand and the leads were able to tighten the spread and add an extra $300m to the longer tranche.

Armenia is the latest EM borrower to take advantage of rock bottom rates with a tender offer and new bond. The sovereign will tender a 2020 bond, financing the operation with a new Eurobond.

Investors chased South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix’s $500m bonds both in the primary and secondary markets, even though the borrower pulled off one of the largest price reductions on a deal from the country.