North America

CPPIB Capital achieved a strong reception from investors for its first sterling bond on Monday with the order book setting a new record as the largest in the currency from a non-UK public sector borrower.

Debt investors are forecasting a rise in corporate spreads and in the yields of both US Treasuries and German Bunds over the coming months, according to a survey.

More companies are exploring the possibility of passing into public ownership through a process known as a "reverse merger" rather through an initial public offering, according to senior equity capital markets lawyers.

Chinese co-living platform Phoenix Tree priced its US listing below the initial marketed range and reduced the size of its IPO, raising $129.6m. Its stock had a volatile start to trading last Friday.

Latin America bankers said that this week Mexico showed again that it was a leading issuer in the region after the sovereign sold its second deal of the year to take advantage of remarkable funding conditions.

The latest battle in the campaign to weaken corporate governance standards in the US is being fought over rule changes that would make it harder for investors to propose motions at shareholder meetings. The ‘proxy advisers’ so central to US governance also face new restrictions.

US natural gas producer EQT Corp shrugged off a rating downgrade and an asset write-down to tap the dollar market for $1.75bn on Wednesday, becoming one of two high-grade issuers to do so as earnings blackout took hold.

US investors are behind the European equity capital markets’ flying start to the year. They are swarming deals, having been driven out of their home market by sky-high valuations and a volatile president fighting for political survival, reports Sam Kerr.

Credit Suisse became the first issuer of additional tier one (AT1) paper market in dollars this year, seizing the high levels of appetite for this asset class to print through fair value.

A pair of SSA borrowers hit the euro market on Thursday, raising a combined €2.5bn at impressive spreads. Export Development Canada raised €1bn with its second ever euro benchmark while Dexia Crédit Local was able to ratchet the spread in by 4bp on its seven year.

Morgan Stanley more than doubled its revenue from fixed income sales and trading in the fourth quarter of last year, completing a stellar set of earnings for US banks in that business after a year in which they appear to have cemented their dominance in Europe.

US issuers are tapping into favourable conditions the euro bond market after reporting their latest results. Goldman Sachs and New York Life Insurance were quick to launch senior bonds on Thursday, boosting supply volumes just as European lenders start preparing for their own reporting season.