Boots finds a winning formula
Demand for new money trampled over a chequered history for the sponsor and doubts over how to position the credit, as loan buyers consumed the majority of the upsized US$4.5bn-equivalent debt package funding the buyout of The Boots Group, the international business of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Japanese issuers swarm bond market
Japanese borrowers have been visiting the US dollar and euro bond markets in force this year, pushing volumes to new highs as the international market offers options for large, attractively priced deals.

Aussie corporates shun ESG bonds
The Australian green bond market has walked a narrowing path in recent years with overall supply, though relatively steady, now dominated by fewer but larger benchmark deals from state governments and SSA issuers.

Pennsylvania AI buildout to be financing jackpot
Blackstone is planning to invest more than US$25bn to develop Pennsylvania’s energy and digital infrastructure via portfolio company QTS and a joint venture with utility PPL. The investment plans are among the most detailed and sizeable announced in the artificial intelligence ramp-up in the US, and dealmakers see a windfall in the offing.
Blackstone is planning to invest more than US$25bn to develop Pennsylvania’s energy and digital infrastructure via portfolio company QTS and a joint venture with utility PPL. The investment plans are among the most detailed and sizeable announced in the artificial intelligence ramp-up in the US, and dealmakers see a windfall in the offing.
Investment banking revenues came roaring back in the second half of the April–June quarter after being hammered by the US trade policy announcement in April.
Trading revenues continued to soar in the second quarter even as deals on the investment banking side of the major brokers started to find their footing once again as the April–June quarter developed into a more stable environment. That trading resilience surprised some on Wall Street.
US president Donald Trump’s support of cryptocurrencies is helping to turbocharge demand for derivatives pegged to digital assets like bitcoin among institutional clients, exchanges say, as greater regulatory certainty helps to usher in a crypto “renaissance”.

Two years on from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a group of technology billionaires are joining together to raise a successor, which will be geared towards providing vital banking services to startups and early-growth companies – a market they say is largely neglected by traditional banks.

Japanese borrowers have been visiting the US dollar and euro bond markets in force this year, pushing volumes to new highs as the international market offers options for large, attractively priced deals.

Only three of the six largest US banks have tapped the US bond market after posting strong second-quarter results, slowing the borrowing spree earlier in the year ahead of the potential easing of bank capital regulations.

Froneri on Wednesday printed its €1.1bn-equivalent debut seven-year non-call three euro and US dollar senior secured notes, with the issuer illustrating the favourable levels names with solid businesses – but aggressive capital structures – can achieve.

IFR hosts a comprehensive programme of conferences, seminars and roundtables throughout the year, providing authoritative insight into the trends and outlooks for specific regions and asset classes.
Bank of America successfully priced another UK CMBS backed by a mixed pool of collateral on Thursday, securitising a roughly £227m loan it provided to sponsor GoldenTree Asset Management to finance a portfolio of industrial, retail and office properties. In doing so, the bank showed how far pricing has moved since 2023.
MoneyMe printed its second public personal loans-backed ABS offering on Thursday, the no-grow A$200m (US$133m) MoneyMe MME PL 2025-1, which attracted several new offshore bids.

Specialist mortgage lender LiveMore Capital is considering issuing a public equity-release RMBS, which could come to the market by 2027, according to Simon Webb, managing director of finance and capital markets. The company has so far issued two deals backed by other types of mortgages aimed at older borrowers.

Sunrun, which provides solar panels and financing in residential areas, is returning to the asset-backed market with the sector's first securitisation since the ratification of a US law that eliminates tax incentives for the photovoltaic industry.

The Australian green bond market has walked a narrowing path in recent years with overall supply, though relatively steady, now dominated by fewer but larger benchmark deals from state governments and SSA issuers.
A new route is opening up to mobilise private capital into emerging markets with a key sovereign-backed African bond fund issuing its first MTN to a UK insurer.

A key participant in the creation of the sovereign debt swap market’s first set of voluntary “practice standards” expects the guidance to enable new participants in the growing area to “start from mid-stream instead of way back at the beginning”.

State Bank of India is raising the country's largest qualified institutional placement of Rs250bn (US$2.91bn) with support from local institutions, as part a funding spree by India's biggest bank.
NIQ Global Intelligence, the consumer intelligence software company, is looking to raise US$1.2bn from its NYSE IPO this week, four years after Advent International acquired the business from Nielsen and nearly 15 years after its former parent went public.
US rare earth minerals champion MP Materials has extended its funding by raising an upsized US$650m from an overnight sale of stock on Wednesday, adding to the US$500m Apple has pledged to build a new production facility and the US$400m direct investment by the US government.
Accelerant launched marketing early on Tuesday of its up to US$578.9m NYSE IPO, providing it with funds to clean up its capital structure and giving investors a new way to invest in speciality insurance.
Demand for new money trampled over a chequered history for the sponsor and doubts over how to position the credit, as loan buyers consumed the majority of the upsized US$4.5bn-equivalent debt package funding the buyout of The Boots Group, the international business of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
After being forced to shelve its buyout financing amid a market freeze in April, dental products maker Patterson Companies is back as banks seek to offload US$1.5bn of debt at some of the deepest discounts seen in 2025.

Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation is preparing to make its biggest splash in the loan market with a borrowing of about HK$30bn (US$3.8bn) to fund a new railway project that will further improve connectivity between the territory and China.

Danish renewable energy giant Orsted has closed a project financing of around NT$97.86bn (US$3.35bn) to a strong response from lenders, even though this was the second jumbo deal this year in Taiwan’s offshore wind sector.

Read the latest stories from the magazine IFR 2592 - 19 Jul 2025 - 25 Jul 2025
19 Jul 2025 - 25 Jul 2025