North America

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.

US banks this week reported stellar returns from trading and underwriting in the first quarter, even as the bottom line was hit by gigantic writedowns and reserves for credit losses, as the economic and financial disruption from the coronavirus crisis took its toll.

Banks have been building their financial sponsor coverage teams on a record period of deal making. Now they have a different fight on their hands, but bankers are playing down the threat of a 2008-style meltdown, writes David Rothnie.

GSX Techedu, a Chinese kindergarten to 12th grade after-school tutoring platform, has been targeted by a US short-seller for allegedly inflating its revenue. The company has denied the allegations.