North America

Corporate bond issues came at a healthy clip in the US market this week, despite earnings blackouts, as investors showed a preference for highly rated paper.

The Province of Ontario ended an absence of almost four years from the Swiss franc market this week to land a 12 year note at fair value. Elsewhere, Valiant Bank and Pfandbriefbank kept the domestic market ticking over with a handful of covered deals.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce returned to the euro covered bond market for its first deal since March 2020, issuing a highly subscribed €1bn eight year flat to fair value this week. At the same time Laurentian Bank said that its programme had received regulatory approval.

Laurentian Bank has received approval from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to establish a C$2bn legislative covered bond programme.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce returned to the euro covered bond market for its first deal since March 2020, issuing a highly subscribed €1bn eight year flat to fair value on Thursday.

The Mexican conglomerate Fomento Económico Mexicano (Femsa) was in the market for sustainability-linked bond in euros on Thursday, marking the latest in a string of innovative trades from the Latin America.

Bonds issued by Mexican payroll lender AlphaCredit lost around half their value on Wednesday after the company revealed a correction in its accounting of derivatives positions would lead to an impairment charge of Ps4.1bn ($206m). Investors and analysts said this would take the non-bank lender’s equity into negative territory, suggesting default was a growing inevitability.

Mark Manduca, a European equity research analyst at Citi, has been appointed as chief investment officer of GXO Logistics ahead of its spinoff from its New York-listed parent XPO Logistics.

Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark and bid-yields from the close of business on Monday, April 19. The source for secondary trading levels is ICE Data Services.

US-listed Zai Lab and Futu Holdings are tapping the equity market for funds through follow-on offerings, with both the Chinese companies launching their transactions after a rally in their stock price.

RBC Capital Markets has created a new leadership position at the top of its global public sector markets business, promoting a senior banker in Toronto to fill the role.

Citi's head of EMEA banking, capital markets and advisory, Phil Drury, is relocating to San Francisco to take charge of a new franchise covering technology and communications.