United States

Equity capital markets are fully firing again at the end of 2019, after a stressful year, but bankers hoping for a more fruitful 2020 are acutely conscious that most of their hopes are riding on the second quarter window, and that an ugly trinity of political risks is threatening the market. Sam Kerr reports.

Big European investment banks pivoted towards the Americas during 2019 in an attempt to boost revenues and position themselves for the next downturn, writes David Rothnie. With large M&A across the industry still off the table, banks are finding scale through joint ventures and alliances.

Ucommune Group Holdings, a shared work-space provider similar to US firm WeWork, is planning to list on the New York Stock Exchange, according to a filing with the US regulator.

The US financial regulator has permanently barred former Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner from the securities industry, for his role in the 1MDB scandal.

In this round-up, the US and China set terms for the phase one trade deal, Chinese industrial production grew more than expected and the People’s Bank of China will sell Rmb10bn ($1.43bn) of bills in Hong Kong this week.

In this round-up, US president Donald Trump reportedly signed the phase one trade deal on Thursday, China concluded the Central Economic Work Conference and the Mainland government is set to turn Macau into a financial hub with new policies.

Ping An Group subsidiary OneConnect Financial Technology has raised $312m from a listing of American Depository Shares (ADS) after trimming and then increasing its IPO.

The mighty dollar has lost its position as the default borrowing currency of the SSA market, and with a presidential election in 2020, that is unlikely to be reversed next year. However, that doesn’t mean that SSA borrowers can ignore it. Lewis McLellan reports

It was a year when the corporate bond market first had to get used to a world without QE — and then digest its return. Spreads tightened sharply after the summer following the ECB’s decision to restart its Corporate Sector Purchase Programme. But that did not mean all the best deals came after September. Far from it.

Battling against falling volume, the loan market also has to work out how to replace Libor. Loan market life will surely get more stressful as the clock ticks down to December 2021, when the rate is due to be phased out, although distractions might come in the form of sustainability-linked structures, writes Mariam Meskin

A rich variety of UK borrowers including a football club, two airports, the City and a clutch of FTSE 250 firms turned to US private placements in 2019. UK local authorities remained absent, but a surprise from the UK Treasury in October may be a game-changer

After assembling mega-funds that can commit loans of €1bn and more, direct lenders are gaining ground in leveraged finance at notable speed. Besides size, firms such as Alcentra, Ares, BlueBay and ICG offer borrowers privacy, speed, fixed terms and long-term commitment. But are they all equipped for the torrent of distressed situations the next downturn is likely to bring?