Coronavirus

KfW mandated banks on Monday for a highly anticipated return to the dollar market following its previous benchmark in the currency back in January. The German agency will be joined in dollars by the Asian Development Bank, which is preparing a three year trade.

After a rush of dollar issuance from Latin American sovereigns, Uruguay — the last of the region’s investment grade countries to turn to bond markets during the coronavirus pandemic — spotted the chance in late June to become the first EM sovereign to issue abroad in its own currency this year. Herman Kamil, director of the country's debt management office (DMO), tells GlobalCapital how the sovereign bucked the trend.

Each week, Keeping Tabs brings you the very best of what we in the GlobalCapital newsroom have found most useful, interesting and informative from around the web. This week: supervising financial reporting, a discordant health and financial picture in emerging markets, and managing climate risk.

Fitch has downgraded its covered bond ratings for Banco Montepio amid a deterioration in the outlook for residential mortgage loans in Portugal, exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

After a hectic second quarter, equity capital markets bankers and investor are now hoping for a traditional summer slowdown to allow market participants to take a break.

Philippine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings managed to tackle investor questions and scrutiny into the impact of Covid-19 on its business to make a rare bond market outing for $600m.

Bank of America hopes that a new management team built on a culture of intensity will enable it to meet its top three goal in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, writes David Rothnie.

Syndicate bankers are scrambling to make sense of the covered bond market, where sentiment has been changeable in recent weeks. Amid volatility and small issuance windows, sustainable bonds have proven a safe strategy to ensure successful deals.

Suriname appeared to take a market-friendly approach to arranging debt relief on Wednesday as bondholders agreed to delay the amortisation schedule on its 2023s. But a full restructuring is still on the cards as the outgoing government appeared to wash its hands of responsibility for what is likely to be dire forthcoming economic data.

Sir Ronald Cohen, one of the UK’s foremost private equity entrepreneurs, believes the Covid-19 crisis is an opportunity to transform western capitalism into a socially responsible enterprise that values a company’s impact on society as much as its profits. Cohen talks to GlobalCapital about the tremendous challenges facing the global economy, and how it can be transformed for the better.

After discussions with US private placement holders, French food services company Sodexo has said it will repay roughly $1.6bn of debt early. Four market sources said this was the largest corporate early repayment of US PPs of all time. Some fear a growing disconnect between institutional investors and companies over financial covenants, and attempts to amend them.

The European equity capital markets are bucking wider equity market fears over a second wave of coronavirus infections in the US and bankers hope sentiment will hold even if global equity indices become more volatile.