North America

As excitement around cryptocurrencies reaches a fever pitch, US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Jay Clayton on Monday issued a statement on cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings, warning main street investors and market professionals alike about risk in the space.

This week, bankers and investors in the European high yield market sounded a message of confidence to potential issuers of bonds with triple-C ratings, even after BMC cancelled one such deal.

Santander Holdings USA offered investors two tranches of senior debt on Monday as it looked to close in on its total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) requirement.

ING is looking to build a footprint in US investment grade and high yield debt markets, with the bank hoping to win more syndication mandates from existing corporate clients, senior figures at the bank said on Thursday.

Bank and finance names this week made their final moves in the dollar market ahead of the Federal Reserve’s final meeting of the year, which starts on December 12.

Investors have given a festive welcome to issuers looking to wrap up their funding plans ahead of November’s jobs report and the final US Federal Reserve meeting of 2017.

SSA bankers looking to get their Christmas shopping in early were in a state of shock on Tuesday, as the World Bank brought a dollar deal to follow the Province of New Brunswick’s return to the currency after a six year hiatus. But that could be it for 2017 as issuance is unlikely next week, which is bisected by a Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Nine years after the rescue of Lehman Brothers’ EMEA and Asian investment banking operations triggered a failed attempt by Nomura to enter the big league of investment banking, the Japanese bank has got the deal bug again, writes David Rothnie.

McGraw-Hill Education launched a new payment-in-kind (PIK) toggle high yield bond on Wednesday, as part of a bigger refinancing package. Once an indicator of peaking credit conditions, PIK toggle deals have become increasingly rare as borrowers head to cheaper and more flexible second lien loans.

US tax reform proposals are expected to weigh on investment grade corporate debt issuance next year, while the decreasing tolerance of equity investors to corporate leverage levels could also change M&A financing behaviour, said credit analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s 2018 outlook event on Tuesday.

SSA bankers looking to get their Christmas shopping in early were in a slight state of shock on Tuesday, as World Bank lined up a dollar deal to follow a Canadian province’s return to the currency after a six year hiatus.

A raft of issuers from the US energy sector swarmed the leveraged loan and high yield market on Monday, overcoming a brief hiccup in the market that caused three energy issuers to pull deals earlier in the month.