United States

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China’s once-hot fintech IPOs are losing some of their sheen, as an apparent crackdown by regulators has forced recent US listings to be priced below their initial range or break issue price. But ECM bankers are not giving up yet, as investor education begins on the sixth Chinese fintech IPO in New York this year. John Loh reports.

Energy company Talen Energy priced a new high yield bond on Tuesday, but the firm had to sweeten the deal with an extra year of non call protection for investors as sentiment remains shaky on US sub-investment grade debt.

Intercontinental Exchange, the exchange and clearing house operator, has reshuffled its top management team, with Benjamin Jackson, formerly chief commercial officer, named president.

The US high yield market suffered another casualty on Monday with a third energy deal pulled in as many days, but other issuers have braved the turmoil to price new deals and there is a healthy line of borrowers keen to follow them.

Investors in green corporate bonds had two very different deals offered to them on Tuesday. Spanish utility Iberdrola sold a green hybrid bond, while Toyota Motor Credit Corp, Toyota’s auto finance subsidiary, offered a long 3.5 year green tranche alongside a seven year non-green tranche.

HSBC will speak to investors from Tuesday about its new sustainable development goal (SDG) bond framework, with a deal expected to follow.

LexinFintech Holdings is the latest Chinese online consumer lender to file for an IPO in the US, picking Nasdaq for a $500m listing.

After a long rally in US high yield credit, concerns over tax reform, weak earnings and merger struggles sparked a $2bn outflow from funds tracking the sector last week. Two energy issuers pulled deals during the week, but that did not stop three energy issuers stepping back into the market on Monday.

The dollar bond market was brought crashing down from its high this week, after a poorly received trade from Apple on Monday sent investors scampering to the sidelines in one of the busiest weeks of the year for supply. Oracle restored some order and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) bucked the trend later in the week, but UPS still found the going tough when it came to market on Thursday.

European investors are becoming accustomed to US corporate issuers visiting the euro bond market. The hot market this week drew three such companies to issue.

The trend for corporate issuers in Europe in 2017 has been to sell bonds with longer tenors. However, among this week’s deals were three short dated floating rate notes, which all garnered huge demand.