Loans and High Yield

Chinese pork producer Muyuan Foods saw lukewarm appetite among banks for its debut syndicated loan, which was closed at a smaller size of $140m.

BP, the UK oil company, has appointed Niamh Staunton, a former Morgan Stanley banker, as its group treasurer, GlobalCapital understands.

Ineos Styrolution’s financing for its $5bn purchase of BP’s aromatics and acetyls businesses is likely to hit the market in January, according to company management, with existing term loans refinanced but bonds potentially remaining outstanding.

Asia’s dollar bond issuers hit pause this week as all eyes turned to the outcome of the nail-bitingly close US presidential election. With the result still uncertain on Thursday, but signs showing a Joe Biden victory as a possibility, some bankers in the region reckon the debt market may be at full throttle from next week. Morgan Davis reports.

JP Morgan has made Stefan Povaly, co-head of EMEA leveraged finance origination, country head for Germany, part of a raft of senior changes in the country following the promotion of Dorothee Blessing to co-head of EMEA investment banking earlier this year.

German dairy group Müller has sold €250m of US private placements across five, seven and 10 years maturities.

Aerospace and defence supplier Meggitt has sold $300m US private placements at three and five years, according to market sources, with leverage step ups to further protect investors.

Zhaoheng Hydropower (Hong Kong) has missed a payment on a 2017 dollar loan. It had extended the maturity on that deal earlier this year.

Fujian Yango Group Co returned with another high yielding bond on Tuesday, making it the only Asian issuer to brave the primary dollar debt market ahead of the US election.

Quadgas, a gas asset and infrastructure investment consortium that sits above UK utility Cadent Gas, has sold $600m-equivalent of US private placements, in the first UK utility deal for more than six months.

Ion Analytics has postponed a $1.85bn leveraged loan financing the combination of Dealogic and Acuris, blaming "market volatility ahead of today’s US presidential election". With final commitments due on Monday, closing the issue was always going to be tight, but liquidity dried up too early for the company to clear out its costly private debt.

Indonesian instant noodle maker Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur has closed syndication of its $2.05bn-equivalent acquisition loan. The allocations are expected to be out in the next few weeks.