North America

A new special purpose acquisition company backed by Tidjane Thiam, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, has raised $300m from investors.

The sell-off in the US Treasury and equity markets intensified this week as hopes rose of faster economic growth which could lead the Federal Reserve to taper quantitative easing. But that did not stop Japanese telecoms company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp raising $8bn with its first dollar bond issue for nine years, amid a stampede for cheap funding.

Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca, which missed a coupon payment on its international bond earlier this month amid plans for a 'debt reorganisation', surprised analysts by posting strong fourth quarter results this week.

Indian renewable energy company ReNew Power is planning to list on the Nasdaq in the US through an $8bn merger with a special purpose acquisition company (Spac).

Tryg Forsikring found strong demand for a new restricted tier one (RT1) bond in the Swedish market on Wednesday, as it looked to optimise its capital structure in preparation for the purchase of RSA Insurance Group’s Nordic businesses.

América Móvil, the Mexican telecommunications company controlled by Carlos Slim, had to cheapen the terms of its €2.2bn bond exchangeable into shares in Dutch telco KPN, but still achieved a remarkably cheap refinancing of a non-core stake.

Petrochemicals producer Alpek, which is owned by major Mexican conglomerate Grupo Alfa, will buy back almost half of its $650m of 4.5% 2022s after wrapping a tender offer on Tuesday.

L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), is planning a $250m IPO, according to a filing with the US regulator.

HSBC has shifted responsibility for its regional businesses and given chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson a broader remit, ahead of updating investors with results on Tuesday and amid its overhaul of operations.

Better than expected fiscal data from Mexico has led Bank of America analysts to conclude that the country’s fiscal metrics “could compare favourably to peers for longer” and upgrade their recommendation on the sovereign’s external debt from underweight to market weight.

This week in Keeping Tabs: how to transition the US economy off fossil fuels.

A pair of sovereigns privately placed century bonds this week, with one of the borrowers — Ireland — dipping below the 1% point for the first time at this sort of tenor.