United States

Intercontinental Exchange’s assertion this week that it is mulling an offer for the London Stock Exchange Group, along with rumours of rival interest from CME, has ushered in a ‘phoney war’ with main suitor Deutsche Börse, say market participants — but the ensuing battle makes the future of LSE’s clearing business far from certain.

The CME Group will launch trading of a new dollar index futures contract in April, in collaboration with Bloomberg, with the new index including the offshore RMB (CNH) as one of its currencies.

Georgia Power has become the second investment grade US utility — and the second Southern Company subsidiary — to issue a green bond, as its peers assess the instrument’s potential.

Tradeweb Markets, a fixed income and derivatives marketplace operator, has bought CodeStreet, a firm that specialises in developing data-driven trade identification and workflow management software.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the exchange, clearing house and data services operator that is circling an approach for the London Stock Exchange, has agreed to buy Standard & Poor’s Securities Evaluations and Credit Market Analysis.

HSBC followed through on its plans to issue loss-absorbing debt from its holding company on Wednesday, putting a big dent in its issuance targets with a $7bn deal.

European corporate bond issuance is finally picking up. Since mid-February, weekly issuance has at last got up to, and sustained, the €7bn-€8bn run rate that last year the market managed right from the off in January.

Warburg Pincus is offloading shares in US-listed China Biologics Products via a block that could raise up to $385m.

Solera Holdings, the Texan car and property insurance claims processor, priced its $3.9bn acquisition debt package in line with revised guidance, after reshaping the debt structure in response to weak investor demand.

IBM wasted little time after its $5bn five tranche trip to the dollar market a fortnight ago, moving to tap the euro market for a €2.25bn triple trancher this week.

Solera Holdings’ $3.9bn debt acquisition package has been reduced, following insufficient demand for the $2bn-equivalent bond’s euro tranche.

The financial services arm of US automaker Ford has picked two banks to arrange a potential bond denominated in Singapore dollars.