JP Morgan

Development Bank of Kazakhstan (DBK) is embarking on a roadshow to market a tenge-denominated Eurobond.

The Republic of Ghana is visiting investors in the US and London with a plan to print a dollar benchmark. But the delegation’s rumoured size has led to surprises before the meetings have started.

Leveraged credit markets are powering ahead with a jam-packed issuance calendar, despite a wobble on Monday when credit indices widened a little on fears about the coronavirus epidemic. On Tuesday spreads firmed up again, though, and bankers bringing new issues have barely broken a sweat all week.

France printed a €5bn 2052 benchmark on Tuesday, opting for an aggressive pricing strategy and keeping to a more restrained size than its typical €7bn.

Greece hit the market with its longest bond since the sovereign debt crisis on Tuesday. Its boldness was rewarded by its strongest order book since it returned to capital markets.

Intermediate Capital Group, the UK alternative asset manager rated BBB by Fitch, is in the market for a seven year euro bond on Tuesday, according to two bankers away from the deal.

Czech lottery firm Sazka ventured into the euro high yield market again this week, issuing €300m of seven-year senior unsecured notes. The deal comes after Sazka made a successful debut in mid-November.

Greece and France mandated banks on Monday for new benchmark offerings at the long end of the curve, the former bringing its longest bond since the eurozone debt crisis. The sovereigns are taking advantage of a sharp rally in core and peripheral eurozone sovereign yields, partially engendered by a flight to quality over the coronavirus scare.

Emerging market bond bankers were keeping their pipelines dry on Monday as fears about the new coronavirus stymied new issuance. But mandates still appeared, as Vodafone Ukraine signalled a roadshow for dollar bonds.

Syndicate bankers argue that financial institutions will need to pay a premium to access the bond market in the next couple of weeks, as investors fret about the potential impact of the outbreak of coronavirus in China.

Seen with cynical eyes, the launch of JP Morgan’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) is simply an attempt to expand its emerging markets footprint — already the largest in the business — by capitalising on two trends: the wave of cash fleeing low yields for EM, and the unassailable momentum of the socially responsible investment movement.

JP Morgan has created a Development Finance Institution (DFI), which will see its investment bank originate and distribute assets scored on their developmental impact. But specialists have questioned the bank’s ambitions and raised concerns about how this unit will operate.