North America

FIG funding project after project has had to be postponed because of higher volatility levels in 2018, leading to a build-up in supply at the beginning of the summer break. With banks growing fearful of market overload, funding teams are thinking hard about whether August could be a window of opportunity after all. Tyler Davies reports.

Issuance in Europe’s equity-linked market is likely to remain stagnant for the rest of the year as long as there is no rapid uplift in rates and the high yield bond market holds up. The US meanwhile continues put all other markets in the shade as total volume powers to its strongest year since 2007.

Bankers marketing the latest crop of IPOs from China’s technology sector got their game face on this week amid escalating fears of a trade war with the US.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is looking for international buyers of its green bonds for the first time as it prepares a roughly $402m new issue.

Jonathan Bock, who previously held the role of managing director and senior equity analyst at Wells Fargo, will become a managing director on Barings’ global private finance platform.

Equity investor sentiment remains fragile as buyers become more bearish on global markets because of heightened economic tensions between the US and China. Some investors see this as the most potent risk to equity markets since the eurozone debt crisis.

The Alternative Reference Rates Committee, a US body committed to transitioning markets away from interbank offered rates, this week published a letter it had sent to financial regulators and supervisors, asking for clarity on how derivatives contracts referencing the benchmarks would be impacted by amendments crafted to deal with their discontinuation.

Citigroup was marketing a series of callable senior bonds in euros on Tuesday, leading the way for US bank debt sales in the currency after second quarter reporting began on Friday.

Chinese start-up Pinduoduo, a challenger to e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has launched bookbuilding for an up to $1.63bn IPO of American Depository Shares.

Cango, a Chinese online marketplace for vehicle sales, has started bookbuilding for its $150m IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) on Monday laid out a framework to oversee the financial stability risks posed by the cryptocurrency market. However, the body warned that some public data could be “manipulated” due to “prohibited practices such as wash trading, spoofing and pump and dump”.

Chinese firm Aurora Mobile, also known as Jiguang, has kicked off the roadshow for its up to $126m Nasdaq IPO.