Pre-migration untagged articles

After last year’s turbulence widened secondary spreads for many SSA issuers, the question surrounding MTNs is whether those levels need to adjust accordingly. Investors want value relative to secondaries whereas last year they prioritised liquidity and security. Even though some issuers have already heeded that call, they will need to do more.

Perhaps last year’s deep dark secret as far as SSA bookbuilding was concerned was issuers leaning on lead managers to commit vast chunks of their capital to deals. Not in the classic sense of underwriting as such but by encouraging them to put huge orders into the book dressed up as genuine treasury desk interest. It is a shocking practice but so far this year, indications are that the LTRO cash now washing around the markets means borrowers are leaning on banks in a whole new way. It could prove to be just as unhealthy for the market.

JP Morgan kicked off the US investment bank reporting season last Friday and set the tone for its peers, reporting numbers that CEO Jamie Dimon described as “modestly disappointing”.

Swedish municipal lender Kommuninvest is preparing to trade 144A issues from March 24 onwards, as part of its plan to expand into the US. The issuer is also targeting the Taiwanese investor base.

Some euro commercial paper issuers have raised their posted levels in response to a rising euro/dollar basis swap, said market participants this week.

Citi climbed to the top of the private EMTNs and structured EMTNs table, which this week excludes self-led deals.

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