North America

Funding for leveraged buyouts in the European primary high yield market gained further share of overall issuance this week, as specialty car parts maker LKQ of Chicago sold a €1bn bond for its acquisition of German peer Stahlgruber.

Investment grade borrowers have taken their feet off the early refinancing pedal, as they bet that benign loan market conditions will continue despite the upheaval expected in the bond markets in the coming months.

The auto finance arm of General Motors opted for shorter maturities to try to ensure the success of its first bond sale of 2018 on Monday. But the €1bn dual-tranche deal only received orders of €1.7bn and the lead managers were only able to tighten one of the tranches from initial price thoughts.

The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has warned his international colleagues that while “crypto-assets do not pose risks to financial stability” now, this could change should the asset class become more “interconnected” with the regulated financial system.

China’s OneSmart International Education Group opened books for its $211.9m IPO of American Depository Shares (ADS) on Monday.

Baidu-backed video streaming platform iQiyi kicked off bookbuilding for its $2.38bn US listing on Monday and was covered quickly.

Barclays has hired a senior credit trader from Citi as another high profile addition to its US credit business.

US exchange operator Chicago Mercantile Exchange is considering acquiring post-trade and markets operator Nex Group, the latter firm confirmed in a circular to investors on Thursday night.

Regulators prepare for the introduction of Chinese depository receipts (CDRs), the US Federal Reserve scolds Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for failing to comply with anti-money laundering rules, and China holds less US Treasury bonds in January.

Senior executives of the International Finance Corp and Amundi will gather in Paris on Friday afternoon for the official signing of Amundi Planet — Emerging Green One: the innovative fund the organisations set up to invest in green bonds issued by emerging market banks. The fund is already closed and listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The sterling SSA market snapped back into life with a flurry of new deals after a quiet few weeks — although bankers lamented that the issuance door may have closed just as quickly as it opened.

The going was heavy for dollar borrowers as investors demanded extra concessions amid poor performance as CVS Healthcare’s trade from the previous week appeared to re-price the market.