North America

Surging equity markets and a spate of strong block sales have given equity investors a boost as they approach the end of the year.

Economies like Canada and Australia that rely upon carbon dioxide-heavy industries are well placed for establishing transition bonds in the SSA market. Having already blazed the trail for green bonds and new risk-free rate linked paper, it is time for SSA issuers to establish transition bonds as a public sector instrument.

HSBC’s anticipated cuts to its global banking and markets (GBM) division may make sense. But they will not be easy to pull off smoothly.

US regulators are taking slow steps towards accepting that climate change is a financial risk, but progress is being made. Appointments have been made to a CFTC committee created to better understand climate-related market risks and one of the members is Mindy Lubber, chief executive of sustainability organisation Ceres. She told GlobalCapital her organisation is working to prepare for a new, green-minded president.

A number of block trades were priced this week as the EMEA equity capital markets ground towards the end of the year. While some banks had expected the week to be busier, the last five days have proven the market is still well and truly open for new business.

In this round-up, US president Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs again if a phase one deal is not reached, China is planning to set up a fund to promote its manufacturing industry and the US Senate passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act.

A shareholder group in Chinese education technology firm GSX Techedu have bagged $252m after selling a chunk of its US-listed stock.

Chinese company Genetron Holdings has filed initial IPO documents with the US regulator just days after getting a fresh injection of capital from a Vivo Capital-led private funding round.

The skinny pricing concessions and big order books that characterised this week’s US corporate bond issuance will not be sustainable as the year wanes, bankers have warned.

In an effort to please their bankers, US corporate treasurers have increasingly been using a mechanism called a risk participation agreement (RPA) as a way to divvy up swaps business to more parties, writes Ross Lancaster.

Teva, the Israeli-US pharmaceutical company, priced a $2.1bn bond package at the tighter end of the initial price thoughts this week. While it is yet to come to a settlement over its alleged involvement in the US opioid crisis, investors were happy to jump aboard a rare double-B issue yielding up to 7%.

The retirement of Samir Assaf, HSBC’s long-serving head of global banking and markets (GBM), paves the way for a long overdue restructuring of that division. This will test the bank’s new-look management team.