Loans and High Yield

Each week, GlobalCapital journalists share some of the most interesting things they have been reading, from the profound to the quirky. This week has been marked by widespread protests across the US and the wider world, in reaction to an unarmed African-American man, George Floyd, dying while a policeman knelt on his neck in Minneapolis.

Zhenro Properties Group and Seazen Group took advantage of a lack of high yield dollar bond supply in Asia to raise $600m between them on Thursday.

Bondholders in the now infamous EA Partners notes received more bad news this week when Air Serbia, one of the lenders from the special purpose vehicles (SPVs) warned that it could default on its obligations.

Travelodge has opted to restructure its debts through a CVA rather than using the UK’s new restructuring framework, shortly to become law. That means landlords are likely to be the losers, rather than bondholders.

The European Central Bank disappointed corporate bond markets on Thursday, as expectations had been running high for an extension of its purchase programme to include "fallen angel" companies that held investment grade ratings before the coronavirus crisis hit. But the €600bn boost to its overall asset purchases may hold spreads in.

A $5bn take-private of Spanish telecoms operator MasMovil is the first sign of the return of M&A deal-making. But as bankers work frantically behind the scenes to rebuild the market, the big, integrated houses look set to dominate, writes David Rothnie.

Kion, the German crossover-rated forklift truck maker, has signed a €1bn crisis funding facility, becoming the latest company to turn to KfW’s loan scheme to get through the coronavirus pandemic.

Indonesian mobile phone seller Tiphone Mobile Indonesia is restructuring its debt after failing to make payments on a loan, adding to a growing list of stressed businesses in the country. But what is worrying bankers more than the default itself is the lack of transparency from the borrower, writes Pan Yue.

Many felt that Chinese banks, key investors in Schuldscheine, would pull back from the market as the pandemic hit. This has been far from the case.

Chinese property developer Kaisa Group Holdings reset the price for all of its bonds on Wednesday when it sold a $300m sub-one year note.

ING has hired former European Credit Management portfolio manager Chris Telfer for high yield credit trading, focused on autos and paper and packaging names.

Virgin Media, the UK cable company, has announced a new sterling issue from its vendor finance high yield bond programme, following a dollar deal on Monday, as it terms out funding and prepares for its merger with UK mobile company O2.