North America

A trio of Wall Street heavyweights tapped the dollar market in size this week, with investors pouring cash into new deals.

Mexico’s deputy finance minister told GlobalCapital that proceeds from Wednesday’s $6bn blow-out bond would not be used to help state oil giant Pemex, despite several investors believing the government needed to issue more to prop up the debt-laden company with oil price having crashed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mexico will continue to monitor international markets even after printing a $6bn triple-tranche deal on Wednesday, and this might include a buy-back of green bonds that were issued to finance the construction of a new airport that ended up being cancelled by the current administration.

Financial institutions with funding needs that are holding off in anticipation of better issuance conditions are doing it wrong. Waiting until the other side of earnings season to bring deals will likely prove a mistake.

Canadian banks should be applauded for funding themselves in public with deals bought by real investors in a range of currencies at actual market clearing levels — astonishing though that may be for the many entitled European issuers that have shamelessly become accustomed to central bank funding.

The prices of Western Canada Select and West Texas Intermediate dropped below zero during trading on Monday, spelling trouble for issuers in the already underperforming Norwegian krone and Canadian dollar.

Latin American bond markets, barely back on their feet after the initial onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, had to contend on Monday with an unprecedented collapse in oil prices too. The sight of WTI trading below zero made some market participants nervous and suggested issuers with funding needs should brace for unexpected bouts of volatility.

CPPIB Capital, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, dived into the long end of the sterling bond market on Monday for a bumper follow-up to January’s jumbo debut.

Kingsoft Cloud Holdings has launched a virtual pre-deal investor education process for its $100m Nasdaq IPO, according to a source close to the deal.

The chief financial officer of Banco Santander México told GlobalCapital that the lender had decided to get ahead of a possible surge in demand for credit by issuing the largest ever bond by a Mexican bank on Tuesday.

The record-breaking pace of issuance in the dollar bond market continued this week, as companies stricken by the coronavirus crisis were welcomed by investors with open arms.

High quality Yankee issuers showed their spirit of adventure by printing front-end trades this week, returning to a part of the curve that has been starved of supply since the start of the coronavirus crisis.