Coronavirus

World Bank mandated banks on Monday to lead its first dollar benchmark transaction of its 2020/21 financial year, which could be priced tighter versus mid-swaps than any other five year dollar trade since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Eurozone peripheral government yields dipped lower on Monday morning in a sign of investors’ optimism for EU leaders to finally strike a deal on the size of the proposed coronavirus recovery fund when talks resume for a fourth consecutive day later in the afternoon.

Portugal is unlikely to suffer a downgrade to its credit rating by Moody’s when it publishes its latest review of the sovereign later on Friday, according to analysts.

HICL Infrastructure, the UK-based infrastructure equity investor, has launched a capital raise to repay £75m worth of debt in order to shore up its finances for further acquisitions.

G20 finance ministers are being urged to use their meeting this weekend to include private sector creditors in their deal on debt interest relief for low-income countries.

The Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest) received its biggest ever order book as it came to the market this week for its latest Covid-19 response bond. The strong demand allowed the issuer to comfortably print its joint-biggest deal flat to fair value.

Financial institutions are set to spend the summer months monitoring conditions for issuance in order to continue funding this year or to frontload funding needs for next year, according to deal arrangers.

The European Stability Mechanism was set up in 2012 as a backstop for euro area member states that were unable to access the capital markets during the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. GlobalCapital spoke to Siegfried Ruhl, the ESM’s head of funding and investor relations to see how the institution is once again looking to play a crucial role to support the bloc through its Pandemic Crisis Support credit lines and how this will be financed.

The UK Debt Management Office outlined its borrowing plan for the period of September through to the end of November on Thursday, announcing that it plans to issue a minimum of two syndicated Gilts and 38 auctions during the period as its funding needs soar to unprecedented levels as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing many governments to expand their borrowing programmes. The table below details the impact of the outbreak on the funding requirements of major sovereign bond issuers.

The European Union could use green bonds to finance a chunk of its proposed €750bn recovery fund in a move that would make it easily the largest supranational provider of green safe assets, said S&P on Wednesday.

Following the sale of its first government bond targeted exclusively to retail investors last week, Italy may issue another such bond before the end of the year, depending on the evolution of its funding needs, which are still not finalised.