North America

If UBS’s reported exploration of a merger with Credit Suisse actually leads to a tie-up at some point, it would create a formidable European investment bank.

Amy West has been named global head of a new sustainable finance and corporate transitions group at TD Securities, which becomes the latest bank to launch a new unit working in this area.

RBC Capital Markets’ expansion in European investment banking came in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. A decade on, the coronavirus pandemic has presented it with a very different set of challenges.

NN Bank extended along its soft bullet covered bond curve this week, following its strategy to fund in the ultra-long end. A tightly priced five year from Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec (CCDJ) followed the deal later in the week.

Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec (CCDJ), Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) and Sparebanken Vest Boligkreditt (Svegno) were set to issue covered bonds with zero new issue premiums on Thursday. But after a surprisingly busy week, the market is now "running out of steam" with order books were much slower to build and subscription ratios far lower than transactions issued earlier this week.

US-listed Chinese companies Zai Lab and Baozun have kicked off secondary offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, adding further momentum to the city’s already hot equity capital market.

Data centre operator Aligned has closed a $1bn sustainability-linked debt financing, marking the arrival in this industry of a green finance tool that is growing in popularity.

Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Québec (CCDJ) mandated leads on Wednesday for a five year and Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) mandated leads for a 10 year deal, to take advantage of exceptionally strong market conditions with both deals likely to be launched on Thursday.

It has already been another busy week for European block trades with several accelerated deals priced on Tuesday evening. Bankers say they expect the rush to continue sellers look to shift as much paper as possible before November's US election.

Chinese hospitality company Huazhu Group is on track to raise around HK$6.06bn ($781.8m) from its secondary offering in Hong Kong, after sending price guidance to investors.

Mainland-based logistics company ZTO Express (Cayman) has hit the road with its Hong Kong secondary offering, with two other Chinese US-listed firms hot on its heels.

BBVA’s Mexican subsidiary, Bancomer, on Tuesday provided one of the clearest examples yet of the attractiveness of international bond markets for Latin American borrowers as it notched the lowest ever coupon on a dollar deal from a bank from the region.