JP Morgan

JP Morgan has appointed James Mazur, a former hedge fund executive, as head of private syndicate in its EMEA equity capital markets private placements business.

Investec Group has cancelled the IPO of its asset management division Ninety One due to extreme market volatility, although the listing and demerger of the unit will still go ahead as planned, according to a stock exchange filing.

Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group’s $10.6bn purchase of Tesco’s Asia business has been hailed as a “landmark” deal that will liven up the region’s loan market. Bankers are now openly debating how they can get in on a financing that will tap both international and domestic liquidity. Pan Yue reports.

Spreads on financial institutions bonds are recovering from a brutal sell-off at the beginning of the week, as European governments and central banks weigh in to help economies deal with the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Once again, corporate bond markets have staged a recovery after a shutdown of several days as asset prices plummeted in response to the growing coronavirus outbreak. Three industrial companies plus JP Morgan issued bonds in the US on Tuesday, which “all went exceptionally well” according to a head of syndicate in London. Danone launched on Wednesday the first euro corporate issue of the week, paying a high spread but small new issue premium.

A window for Kangaroo issuance opened this week, as a positive move in the Australian dollar/euro basis swap helped rouse a slumbering market that had not seen a deal for a fortnight. In spite of unstable conditions, SSAs entered the market on Monday and Tuesday, with a trio of regular borrowers tapping six lines for a combined A$575m ($364m).

Months of bidding for UK retail giant Tesco’s Asia business has finally ended, with Charoen Pokphand Group emerging victorious. Three banks have provided financing to the Thai conglomerate to support the purchase.

India’s Tata Steel and Birla Carbon have decided not to syndicate their chunky loans, amid reluctance from the bookrunners to sell down their positions in a slowing market for deals.

Indian real estate developer Lodha Developers International offered investors a 14% yield to secure demand for its $200m bond, after being forced to widen pricing from initial guidance.

Bank of Montreal reopened the dollar market for Yankee banks this week, using ‘shadow books’ to quickly wrap up the sale of its floating-rate note.

Rating: Aaa/AAA

Europe's high grade corporate bond issuers are being pushed into tight issuing windows by volatility caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus. But investors are prepared for this and so far deals have found strong backing.