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Lighting the path:
The Middle East is by far the biggest component of the emerging EMEA bond market. But it's not just a region of jumbo deals. There are plenty of issuers with much smaller needs that require banks' advice and care. For its ability to straddle all sectors, Standard Chartered is IFR's Middle East Bond House of the Year.
Spreading the word Gems Education succeeded in introducing a high-yield credit to a variety of investor bases and walked away with the largest Single B corporate bond issue from a Gulf borrower in over 10 years. The Dubai-based education services provider sold a US$900m seven-year non-call three bond. The deal was just one leg of a US$1.85bn debt refinancing, which needed to reach a number of pockets of liquidity given its overall size. The refinancing was run concurrently with the acquisition of a 30.5% stake by a CVC-led consortium. CVC...
Rising up
Goldman Sachs undertook a meteoric rise to approach the end of 2019 among the league table leaders in Latin America. It also participated in many of the region’s most important transactions and added to its on-the-ground presence in the region. The bank is IFR’s Latin America Bond House of the Year.
Breathing space Mexico’s Pemex was close to becoming the biggest fallen angel ever in the global bond market in 2019, only to be saved by its US$7.5bn bond and liability management exercise that allowed it to reprofile US$20bn in debt and gave it the breathing space required to focus on its core business. The state-owned oil company went from teetering on the edge of junk status to garnering one of the largest order books ever from a Latin American quasi-sovereign or corporate issuer on what was its biggest bond ever. While Pemex’s future...
Reopening markets Telefonica del Peru became the first Latin American corporate to tap the cross-border local currency market in about a year and half in April, proving that demand existed in an asset class where windows can prove fleeting. Executing such trades is tricky at the best of times as foreign accounts are often reluctant to participate in deals where they must do their homework on foreign exchange, country and credit risks. The company’s ability to access the market was all the more notable for its split rating, leaving it...
Two steps ahead
As international bond issuance soared to a record pace in Asia, one bank maintained its leadership and added to its already enviable market share. For playing to its strengths, HSBC is IFR’s Asia Bond House of the Year.
Shining example India’s Adani Group has been a regular visitor to the international bond markets, but Adani Green Energy’s US dollar issue in October marked a new stage of development for Indian issuers. The US$362.5m amortising green bond had a door-to-door maturity of 20 years, and a weighted average life of 13.47 years. This was the first deal from India to use an amortising project finance-type structure, setting a template for infrastructure developers looking to lock in long-term funding and lower interest costs without the refinancing...
New lease of life In a year when many corporate debt restructurings dragged on or fell flat, Mongolian Mining Corp became the first restructured company in Asia to complete a liability management exercise comprising a tender and new issue, enabling it to free up assets pledged as security, extend duration and broaden its investor base. The coking coal producer had revamped its capital structure after plunging coal prices led to a default in 2016. The restructuring created US$412.5m of senior secured bonds due 2022 and US$195m of perpetual...
Trade tensions between Beijing and Washington are threatening to spill over into capital markets, with some policymakers even calling for a ban on Chinese listings in the US. Just how far can it go?
As Japanese fund managers broaden their search for yield, international issuers are finding they no longer need to spend the time and money to prepare local language documentation. Old habits die hard, however, and lengthy marketing periods are still standard practice.
Primary bond markets have proved a testing ground for the transition from inter-bank offered rates to new alternative risk-free rates. But the abundance of issuance referenced to Sonia and SOFR should not obscure the unfortunate fact that most of the proceeds have immediately been swapped back to Libor by the borrowers.
Is the traditional green bond market threatened by the emergence of transition bonds, SDG bonds, general-purpose bonds with environmental targets and other debt classes intended to encompass wider environmental goals? Does it matter if new market segments are more effective at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases?
As another painful year for Europe’s banks draws to a close, the need for big bank consolidation has never been greater.
