Loans and High Yield

Asia’s dollar bond market shows no sign of slowing down, after a flurry of deals were announced on Monday.

Chinese issuers continued to bombard the dollar bond market on Thursday. Hangzhou Financial Investment Group Co, Yankuang Group Co and ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance were among those that sold deals.

KKR has closed two bilateral loans to support its acquisition of Vinhomes Joint Stock Co, GlobalCapital Asia understands.

JP Morgan has extended its lead in European investment banking, scotching accusations of a retreat and dashing hopes of a change in the status quo, writes David Rothnie.

High yield bond issuance is coming thick and fast in Europe, with primary supply not limited to straightforward Covid-proof credits, but also coming from highly levered firms feeling the pinch of the pandemic restrictions.

Swedish alarm firm Verisure underlined improved leveraged finance conditions when it returned to market for a refinancing. The company was the first European high yield issuer out after the coronavirus crisis, with a tentative floating rate note in April, but its latest refi proved to be a blowout, with a huge size increase and pricing through talk.

Bitė, a mobile, broadband and pay-TV firm in the Baltic region, and a portfolio company of Providence Private Equity, priced a dividend recap and refinancing of its whole capital structure this week, funded by a dual-tranche high-yield bond offering. This marks the company’s return to bond markets after nearly five years of financing through loans.

Axiom Alternative Investments has launched a new long/short global high yield fund, following the hire of Gilles Frisch as a portfolio manager last year, targeting the opportunities that will come through at the end of this credit cycle.

The European Leveraged Finance Association has called for better transparency in high yield covenant packages, arguing that clarity is crucial for pricing risk. The call comes shortly after one of the largest covenant climb-downs in recent market history, when lead banks on ThyssenKrupp Elevator stripped many of the most controversial terms from the €8bn financing.

Philippine issuers are flooding the market with dollar bonds, giving investors an unprecedented selection of deals from the country. There is plenty more to come. Morgan Davis reports.

Studio City Finance restructured its debt portfolio with a $1bn bond sale on Wednesday.

Chinese property companies Kaisa Group Holdings, Yango Group Co and Overseas Chinese Town (Asia) Holdings raised a combined $1.5bn from their bonds on Wednesday.