North America

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) on Monday committed to expanding its use of cloud technology “across a much greater range of its services and applications” over the next three to five years.

The Province of Quebec will print in sterling for the first time in over 20 years after hiring banks on Monday for a five year deal, joining other Canadian provinces in returning or debuting in the currency in 2017. The trade will come in the same week as the UK sovereign sells the first syndication of its 2017-18 financial year.

Abengoa’s yieldco spinoff, Atlantica Yield, took a step further from its troubled Spanish major shareholder on Monday, having received its first double-B rating from Standard & Poor’s.

Citigroup, State Street and Bank of New York tapped the market as the callable bandwagon rolled on and banks continued to boost their regulatory capital buffers.

Guarantor: Canada

Volatility late in the week failed to dampen a scorching few days of public sector dollar issuance, auguring well for more expected supply in the currency next week. Four issuers — some of which came this week to avoid other trades pencilled in for next week — were able to price deals at tight levels, with some coming through their curves.

Amgen and Intel led the scramble into the US dollar bond market this week with big trades as corporates looked to lock in funding ahead of an expected interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve next month.

The Province of Ontario on Thursday rounded off a stellar week for dollar issuance with a trade that, like those a day earlier, was priced with minimal to no concession and with a well oversubscribed book. Ontario’s deal was perhaps more remarkable though, given a more volatile backdrop on Thursday trading.

Australian billionaire James Packer unwound the last of his position in a Macau joint venture with Hong Kong scion Lawrence Ho this week. Packer raked in $1.2bn from an unusually structured deal that included a $337m block trade, capturing the attention of Asian and US investors. Jonathan Breen reports.

Standard Chartered is strengthening its credit teams in Singapore, Hong Kong, London and New York, the bank said this week.

Bright Scholar Education Holdings had covered its $150m US IPO as of Monday, according to bankers arranging the deal.

Public sector issuers “can do whatever they want” in a rampant dollar market, with investors ploughing into books despite deals pricing close to or flat to their curves.