The Week That Was (12th – 19th September)

US primary market saw a decrease in issuance to $37bn vs. a massive $51.3bn in the prior week. IG issuances fell to $27.4bn vs. $44.3bn in the prior week. HY issuances on the other hand were higher at $9.3bn vs. $4.5bn in the prior week. The IG space saw JPMorgan’s $3.25bn two-trancher, Hyundai Capital’s $3bn three-trancher and Morgan Stanley’s $3bn deal leading the tables. In the HY space, crypto exchange Coinbase’s debut $2bn dual-trancher led the table followed by Gap Inc.’s $1.5bn two-trancher and Cheniere Energy’s $1.2bn deal. In North America, there were a total of 41 upgrades and 22 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. LatAm saw $4.27bn in issuances vs. $4.5bn in week prior with Chile raising $1bn and Banco do Brasil raising $750mn, leading the table. EU Corporate G3 issuances rose to $27.8bn vs. $28.2bn the week prior led by KfW’s €6bn dual-trancher, while NRW Bank, ABM AMRO, Credit Agricole and Banco Santander raised €1bn each. Across the European region, there were 26 upgrades and 9 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. GCC G3 issuances stood at a mere $50mn vs. $4bn in the week before with QNB Finance being the sole issuer. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there were no upgrades nor downgrades across the three major rating agencies. APAC ex-Japan G3 issuances rose to a strong $22.9bn vs. $9.4bn in the prior week – ICBC raised a mammoth $6.16bn via a PerpNC5 AT1, the largest global dollar AT1 deal since 2017 at a yield of 3.2%, the lowest ever offshore AT1 yield from greater China. There were several other large deals from the region – Westpac raised €1.75bn ($2.1bn) via a dual-trancher, Indonesia raised $1.84bn-equivalent via a multi-currency deal, Sinochem $1.5bn via a three-trancher, Shimao’s $1.048bn dual-trancher, Bangkok Bank’s $1bn via a 15NC10 Tier 2, TSMC’s $1bn issuance, JSW Steel’s and Norinchukin Bank’s $1bn issuances, each via a dual-trancher. In the Asia ex-Japan region, there were 13 upgrades and 12 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week.