US primary markets saw a sharp increase in issuances to $44.1bn vs. $27.1bn in the prior week. IG issuances more than doubled to $33.7bn vs. $15.3bn in the prior week while HY issuances fell slightly to $9.2bn vs. $11.6bn in the week before. The largest deals in IG space were led by Baxter International’s $7.8bn jumbo seven-tranche offering and JBS’ $2bn dual-trancher. In the HY space, Hertz’s $1.5bn dual-trancher and Tenet Healthcare’s $1.45bn deals led the table. In North America, there were a total of 18 upgrades and 18 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. LatAm saw $980mn vs. $500mn in issuances in the week prior led by Canacol Energy and Interconexion Electrica raising $500mn and $330mn each. In South America, there were 2 upgrades and 5 downgrades combined across the major rating agencies. EU Corporate G3 issuances saw a rise to $33.9bn vs. $26.2bn in the week prior with HSBC raising $6bn via a four-trancher and Barclays’ $4bn three-trancher. Across the European region, there were 10 upgrades and 13 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. The GCC G3 saw $645mn vs. $5.3bn in issuances in the prior week led by First Abu Dhabi Bank’s $365mn deal and Warba’s $250mn Sukuk issuance. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there were 6 upgrades and 4 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. APAC ex-Japan G3 issuances saw a slight dip to $11.4bn vs. $14.7bn in the week before. The largest deals were led by Hong Kong SAR’s $3bn dual-currency green three-trancher, Sinochem Hong Kong’s $1.36bn-equivalent multi-currency three-trancher and DBS’ $1bn two-tranche deal. In the Asia ex-Japan region, there were 5 upgrades and 6 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. Some Chinese developers’ dollar bonds saw a recovery last week, continuing the relief rally in the week prior to that – for example, Greenland Holdings’ bonds rallied over 20% on news of its reclassification to ‘construction’ as compared to ‘real estate’ and Agile ~10% after it wired funds to redeem its outstanding $190mn 3.85% bonds that matured last week.
