United States

Bayer clinched a $66bn agreement to buy Monsanto this week, forming a global leader in farming technology and promising a shower of capital markets transactions that will test debt and equity markets — but may also delight them.

Interest rate swap trading platform trueEX has set its sights on a narrowing pool of remaining dealers it has not signed up, as the addition of BNP Paribas this week took its market haul to 21.

Several new avenues for commodities traders have opened up through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, with trading in the first European Union wheat futures contracts beginning this week and an October rollout slated for the first exchange-traded precious metals spread and ratio futures contracts.

The grins on the faces of Werner Baumann and Hugh Grant, chief executives of Bayer and Monsanto, look genuine enough. The deal they have struck could catapult Baumann to head of the world’s leading agribusiness company and net Grant a reported $226m.

CME Group is set to roll out trading in what it claims are the first-ever exchange-traded precious metals spread and ratio futures contracts.

Credit risk has awakened from its summer slumber over the last couple of days with the CDX IG and iTraxx main index now trading 8% and 11% higher than their close on Thursday. While it’s still too early to see whether this latest surge is a passing event or a longer lasting trend, both indices are still below their 12 month averages and now trade roughly 40% off the highs set earlier in the year.

Winsconsin’s Spectrum Brands, the consumer products conglomerate ended a two day roadshow on Wednesday with the sale of euro notes that will repay dollar bonds, an uncommon transaction in the euro market.

IHS Markit will not overhaul the iTraxx Europe credit default swap index at the September roll next week to address UK bank debt regulations, say analysts, but the index operator will look at whether to change its rules in the near future.

Bayer, the German life sciences company, has clinched an agreement with the board of Monsanto to buy the US company for an enterprise value of $66bn, to be financed with one of the largest rights issues in history.

On Wednesday, Bayer said that five banks have agreed to provide the hefty bridge loan for its $66bn acquisition of US agrochemicals specialist, Monsanto. But the $57bn deal is not yet being syndicated, according to one of Bayer’s relationship banks.

US coatings maker Axalta on Tuesday sold a €450m bond to redeem its 2021 euro notes, a month after it redeemed its 2021 dollars, cutting its coupon by 200bp.

A jumbo bond intended to refinance the debt of merged companies Quintiles and IMS on Wednesday added to a deluge of high yield issuance, with the market seeing €4bn of new bonds by Thursday.