Coronavirus

Argentina's bonds slipped again in secondary markets after finance minister Martín Guzmán confirmed to local media that the government had no plans to pay $503m of coupon payments due on Wednesday, despite the fact the move had already been widely anticipated.

Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, the operator of 35 airports in the country, is asking bondholders for temporary relief on amortisation and coupon payments as it looks to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its cash flow.

Central American development bank Cabei will hold investor calls this week as it prepares to bring its first 144A bond in nearly eight years.

Financial institutions with funding needs that are holding off in anticipation of better issuance conditions are doing it wrong. Waiting until the other side of earnings season to bring deals will likely prove a mistake.

Supervisors are encouraging financial institutions to use all of their capital and liquidity buffers as necessary during the coronavirus crisis, signalling that lenders will be given a "significant" amount of time to restore their regulatory ratios to adequate levels.

Cast-iron technical factors are managing to support recent bond issues for European oil majors at prices above reoffer, despite the price of the commodity plumbing historic depths this week. But analysts warned that this is just the beginning and a second wave of Covid-19 cases would be a “disaster” for the oil and gas industry.

Recent dollar bonds in Asia offer timely insight into the ingredients needed to seal deals in the Covid-19 environment.

Pressure on Asia’s loan market has eased recently as funding costs come under control and the Covid-19 spread in China slows down. But bankers hoping for a quick rebound in deal flow should keep their expectations in check.

A swift, firm rejection from the bondholder group considered to hold most sway in Argentina’s restructuring negotiations effectively closed the doors on any chance of success for the government’s first offer less than one business day after it had announced terms.

Latin American bond markets, barely back on their feet after the initial onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, had to contend on Monday with an unprecedented collapse in oil prices too. The sight of WTI trading below zero made some market participants nervous and suggested issuers with funding needs should brace for unexpected bouts of volatility.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) will tap the dollar market this week to become the latest public sector borrower to print a bond in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Companies in the US high yield market have started adding a "corona claw" provision to bond documents, allowing a big chunk of new bond issues to be paid back early if the company gets cash from the federal government. But it’s not clear yet where any public money will fit in the capital structure of leveraged corporates — and whether bondholders could end up primed by the government.