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Health and Biotech

Apollo Hospitals nets $160m from hot QIP

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has raised around Rp11.7bn ($160m) from a qualified institutional placement, drawing a swell of demand that pushed pricing above the floor.

08.00 AM
Chinese firms Adagene, Cloopen eye US listings

Cloopen Group Holding, a cloud-based communication provider, is planning to raise at least $100m from a US IPO of American depositary shares (ADS).

05.15 AM
Eurostar's begging letter shows tunnel vision

Eurostar, the company which runs trains through the Channel Tunnel between London and Europe, is angling for a UK government-backed bailout loan. It is a ruse that can most generously be described as cheeky. If the company really needs cash to survive, there are many more appropriate ways of raising it in the capital markets.

19 Jan 2021
Securitization can help the UK but the government must do its part

Securitization can play a part in the UK’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic but it needs the government to keep the housing market alive.

19 Jan 2021
Düsseldorf Airport takes state loan, Hamburg might follow

Düsseldorf Airport has completed a €250m German state backed loan, with debt market participants expecting Hamburg Airport to follow suit after being forced to pull its Schuldshein deal last week.

19 Jan 2021
The wrong time to restrict leveraged lending

The ECB's attempts to curb leveraged lending are damaging, inconsistent, and come at exactly the wrong time

19 Jan 2021
UK biotech firms eye Nasdaq listings

Immunocore, the UK biotech company, has filed for an IPO on the Nasdaq in New York following a $75m series ‘C’ funding round which concluded last week.

19 Jan 2021
EU urged to use equity-like instruments to help smaller corporates

Many EU companies could do with capital beyond bog standard debt, according to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (Afme). The trade body, in a report it produced alongside PwC, suggests encouraging the use of equity-adjacent products to fill balance sheet gaps from the coronavirus crisis.

19 Jan 2021
Belgium’s Aedifica debuts in US private placements

Aedifica, the Belgian-based healthcare property investment company, has launched a US private placement, according to market sources.

18 Jan 2021
'Give us the airline treatment,' Eurostar begs of UK government

Eurostar, the majority French-owned train service between the UK and Europe, has asked the UK government for bailout loans. The request came as 28 senior businesspeople in the UK wrote an open letter warning that the rail service was fighting for its survival.

18 Jan 2021
Bank balance sheets could be obscured, says Coen

The impact of coronavirus on economies has led to extraordinary help being granted to banks and their customers. But this brings the risk of problems on banks' balance sheets being hidden, according to William Coen, former secretary general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

14 Jan 2021
BlackRock backs UK life sciences firm in latest PE round

BlackRock, the US asset manager, has taken part in a $75m Series 'C' financing for Immunocore, a UK life sciences company that works in developing treatments that use the body’s T-cell receptors to fight cancer and other diseases.

11 Jan 2021
EasyJet follows British Airways in using UKEF aid for liquidity boosting loan

EasyJet, the UK budget airline, has signed a $1.87bn-equivalent liquidity facility backed by the UK’s export credit agency, the second such guarantee it has given in recent weeks.

11 Jan 2021
Gracell Biotech boosts US IPO size to $209m

Gracell Biotechnologies has raised $209m from its Nasdaq IPO after increasing the size of the float and pricing the deal above the initial marketed range.

08 Jan 2021
Hansoh Pharma, Hongqiao tap Asia CB market

Hong Kong-listed Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group and China Hongqiao Group have added to the burst of convertible bond activity in the first week of 2021, raising a combined $900m from the equity-linked market on Thursday.

08 Jan 2021
Lagardère gets govvie support for fresh pandemic loan

Lagardère, the French book publisher and travel retail company, has signed a €465m short term government-backed loan and extended its revolving credit facility, as the company shuffles its loan liabilities amid a plunge in revenue.

07 Jan 2021
Paperchase set for administration, Permira holds the debt

UK stationery retailer Paperchase has submitted a notice of intent to appoint administrators, as it struggles to cope with the effects of lockdowns and disruption to Christmas sales.

06 Jan 2021
Europe’s lenders primed to provide billions in emergency funding

With rising Covid-19 infection rates sparking new social restrictions, Europe’s high grade loans bankers say they are ready to once again provide the vast amounts of short term funding to corporates they did last March as lockdowns swept Europe for the first time. But many expect borrowers to lean more heavily on the bond markets this time.

05 Jan 2021
Gracell Biotech launches $159m US IPO

Chinese clinical-stage company Gracell Biotechnologies has kicked off the roadshow for its Nasdaq listing, eyeing up to $158.9m in proceeds.

05 Jan 2021
Hong Kong ECM heats up with $1.8bn block bonanza

Hong Kong’s block market surged back to life on Monday night with a flurry of share sales worth a total of HK$14.19bn ($1.83bn).

05 Jan 2021
EM buyers bullish as Covid spikes in Europe ‘no game changer’

Emerging market bond investors have started the year in bullish spirits, market participants said, despite rising in Covid-19 infections across Europe. Investors' thirst for yield means the market is open to all issuers, bankers believe.

04 Jan 2021
Stocks soar on good news but pandemic looms over ECM

Equity markets opened on a high on the first day of trading in 2021 and there are hopes that positive macro headwinds will provide strong momentum for equity capital markets deals. This is despite the Covid-19 pandemic still causing concern as cases rise and governments introduce tough restrictions to fight it.

04 Jan 2021
Trump wobbles US stimulus bill, but investors hold nerve

The US stimulus package seemed all but a done deal until Tuesday night. The $900bn, 5,593 page bill was passed by both houses and requires only President Donald Trump’s signature to become law. Though this seemed a foregone conclusion, Trump is threatening to withhold his signature unless the size of the relief is increased, not that bond markets seemed fazed by the late upset.

23 Dec 2020
Investors want EM, whether it restructures or not

For years, meeting obligations has been the be-all and end-all of emerging market debt management. Pay your debts, or wave goodbye to international investors.

22 Dec 2020
Border chaos gives equity capital markets a glimpse of Brexit nightmare

The closing of borders between mainland Europe and the UK has provided a brief glimpse into the chaos that the immediate imposition of trading restrictions between the UK and EU might caused in the event of a no-deal Brexit on December 31. Both sides need to work around the clock to finalise a deal with a generous implementation period to avoid the kind of nightmare scenario that could lead to investors fleeing the UK.

22 Dec 2020
Gol raises private debt as other LatAm airlines feel the Covid bite

Gol, Brazil’s largest domestic airline, has priced a $200m six year private placement. This is one of the first deals from a Latin American airliner since the pandemic struck, and comes after a number of peers in the region have fallen into bankruptcy.

22 Dec 2020
Equity rotation changes EM investor attitudes

Equity investors have begun in recent months to allocate capital away from some of the high growth firms which dominated equity capital market supply this year to more cyclical companies that are set to benefit when economies reopen from Covid-19 lockdowns. They are also looking to buy into emerging markets, predicting rising equity valuations in places like Russia and some parts of Latin America.

22 Dec 2020
2020 the worst year for euro ABS issuance since financial crisis

European ABS issuance is closing the year with the lowest volumes since 2009, with the Covid-19 economic turmoil and cheap central bank liquidity having deterred issuers from coming to market.

21 Dec 2020
Negative rates loom for UK unless Brexit Christmas miracle happens

The looming threat of a no deal Brexit, as well as the chaos ensuing from the UK’s new stricter restrictions to combat Covid-19, caused Gilt yields to plunge on Monday morning. Unless EU and UK politicians are able to come to agreement on a trade deal soon, negative rates look almost inevitable.

21 Dec 2020
EM investors expect ‘insane’ sell-off as UK Covid worsens

Emerging market bond trading desks were quiet on Monday, as the last business week of the year began with the world reacting to the rapid spread of a new strain of the Sars-Cov-2 virus in the UK. But market participants expect that EM assets cannot remain immune.

21 Dec 2020
Beaten sectors in firing line again if lockdowns go global

Fresh fears are rising about the future of companies already pummelled by the economic ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic. New research suggests that the worst affected industries will be the hardest hit again as Europe heads into another round of major lockdowns.

21 Dec 2020
Grim tidings for stocks as mutant Covid strain shuts UK borders

European stock markets fell heavily in early trading on Monday morning after European countries shut their borders to the UK over a new mutant variant of the coronavirus, which is rapidly spreading through the country. With the UK also heading rapidly towards a no-deal Brexit in January there is little Christmas cheer among equity investors.

21 Dec 2020
Fighting over the Fed, Christmas brainteaser, 1918's lesson

This week in Keeping Tabs: Republicans battle over Federal Reserve support, a look back at the "Spanish" flu, and a quiz from the Bank of England.

18 Dec 2020
Rich countries will learn to stop worrying and love the debt

Governments have had little choice but to load up on debt to save their economies. With the crucial support of low interest rates and vast quantitative easing programmes, there is little immediate threat to debt sustainability. But as Jasper Cox reports, nothing lasts forever.

17 Dec 2020
World Bank says rich world can cut poor states’ debt without contagion

Governments and “wealthy” private creditors in advanced and emerging economies can reduce the bilateral debts owed by the world’s poorest countries without triggering an outbreak of financial contagion, David Malpass has said.

17 Dec 2020
IADB sets aside $1bn for vaccines as LatAm faces distribution challenge

The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) said on Wednesday that it would mobilise $1bn of resources to support Latin American and Caribbean countries in their efforts to acquire and distribute Covid-19 vaccines, as analysts warn most of the economic benefits from vaccinations may only reach Latin America in the second half of 2021.

17 Dec 2020
No bids for Trafford Centre as retail outlook darkens

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has taken over Manchester’s Trafford Centre after failing to find an alternative buyer. It chose to acquire the property after the collapse of shopping centre owner Intu.

16 Dec 2020
Eurozone banks handed stringent guidelines to resume dividends

The European Central Bank told eurozone banks this week that they are free to restart dividend payments and share buybacks in 2021, so long as they comply with a number of stringent guidelines.

16 Dec 2020
Travelodge raises pricey private tranche

Travelodge privately placed £65m of 9% four year bonds at 96, according to a statement from the issuer, following Lowell’s similar decision to tap into a firm market ahead of year-end. Shareholders Avenue Capital and GoldenTree are experienced distressed investors, actively seeking other companies wanting to raise cash at double-digit yields, but have opted for third-party money this time.

16 Dec 2020
Calls build for ECB debt cancellation

Politicians across Europe are interested in the idea of the European Central Bank writing off the government bonds it holds, but this looks tricky and potentially not so useful after all.

16 Dec 2020
Fitch goes negative on Peru, even after issuer appeal

Political volatility might finally be biting in Peru, with Fitch putting the country's rating on negative outlook.

16 Dec 2020
European corporate bond investors plan move down ratings

Europe’s corporate bond investors are starting to make bets that industries battered by the coronavirus pandemic and crossover-rated names are going to be the performers of 2021, even though speculative grade defaults reached a post-global financial crisis high in November.

15 Dec 2020
SRT market falls short of 2020 hopes

The significant risk transfer market is usually at its busiest in December, as issuers hope to gain balance sheet benefits by year-end. But 2020 has seen a pullback from investors who have blamed a lack of credit data brought about by Covid-19 payment moratoria.

15 Dec 2020
Draghi and Rajan-led group offers fixes for corporate distress

A G30 committee led by Mario Draghi and Raghuram Rajan has outlined proposals for governments looking to deal with the surging corporate distress caused by the pandemic. The paper, published on Monday, recommends better restructuring laws, equity infusions, business interruption reinsurance and targeted credit for the most vulnerable companies.

15 Dec 2020
Cellectis US cap raise closes historic year for biopharma

Cellectis, the French gene-editing company, has launched a $100m US capital raising to help fund its research and development operations. The sector has had a record year for issuance in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic has concentrated minds on global healthcare innovation.

15 Dec 2020
IHG faces junk rating as banks agree covenant waiver on $1.35bn of debt

InterContinental Hotels Group has negotiated a waiver and relaxation on its loan covenants for the second time in 2020, as its leverage threatens to plunge its rating into junk territory.

15 Dec 2020
Pirelli places €500m convertible as cyclical stocks surge

Pirelli, the Italian tyres company, has issued its first convertible bond since its re-IPO on the Milan Stock Exchange in 2017, raising €500m.

15 Dec 2020
IMF no panacea for Costa Rica, says Fitch

Costa Rica’s finance ministry said on Monday that it planned to begin discussions over a new $1.75bn IMF programme in the second week of January. But though an agreement would likely drive a rally in the sovereign’s bonds, Fitch Ratings warned it would not remove debt sustainability pressures.

15 Dec 2020
EBA warns of deterioration in asset quality

The European Banking Authority has warned the market to expect a sharp deterioration in asset quality next year, after publishing a wealth of new information on provisioning practices.

14 Dec 2020
Travel and leisure firms to fund recovery with equity

Travel and leisure companies are expected to be active issuers in the equity capital markets in 2021, as they ride out a difficult winter next year.

14 Dec 2020