Loans and High Yield

The International Finance Corp will launch next week at the World Bank/IMF annual meetings in Bali a set of Operating Principles for Impact Management, which are designed to complement the framework for analysing impact produced by the Impact Management Project.

Most European leveraged loan deals in October are achieving savings of 25bp and more over price talk, with demand on the rise. The loan offering to fund Advent’s buyout of Distributed Power confirmed this trend, as it tightened margins and issue discounts.

As the clock ticks down to the end of 2018, Asia’s debt issuers and bankers are hoping for a rebound in supply. But they have to first face a number of challenges, writes Addison Gong.

Rising oil prices, strong corporate performance and a supply shortage have driven US high yield bond spreads to their tightest level since the financial crisis. After several cycles of tightening and widening this year, some investors think that this time there is still more room for the rally to run.

October’s deal pipeline in the European leveraged debt markets is increasingly looking like a mismatch between supply and demand.

Fortune Choice is tapping the offshore loan market for a HK$5.2bn ($664m) fundraising to support the development of a residential building in Hong Kong.

Nep Group, a US producer of broadcast programmes, gave price talk below 400bp for all first lien loans in the financing for its buyout by Carlyle, a further sign that margins have tightened in the leveraged loan market.

Dartington Hall Trust, a charity and social enterprise in Devon in the UK, is looking to attract bondholders for a secured deal open to retail investors. It has eschewed the London Stock Exchange’s order book for retail bonds (ORB) to use NEX instead.

A number of Chinese issuers have revealed their offshore bond plans just ahead of a week-long holiday in the Mainland, as the sovereign too plots its return.

Warner Music and Playtech announced new bond offerings with a combined €730m volume on Monday, less than the latest weekly inflows for high yield retail funds. But Bilfinger pulled its deal.

Abengoa, the Spanish renewable energy group, is seeking to convince its investors to engage in yet another rescue plan, which includes debt swaps with no cash coupons and new convertible bonds.

Progress was announced this week on two drives to assess the risk of climate change to businesses. The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) now has 513 supporters; and Moody’s has updated its environmental risk heat map, showing that 11 sectors with $2.2tr of debt have elevated risk.