US primary market issuances rose to $46.6bn vs. $34.5bn in the week prior. IG issuances rose to $32.1bn vs. $21.9bn in the prior week and HY issuances were also higher at $14.4bn vs. $11.5bn in the prior week. The IG space was led by Intel’s $4bn four-part deal, T-Mobile’s $2.7bn issuance and Thermo Fisher’s $2.4bn dual-trancher. In the HY space, Uber’s $1.5bn issuance led the table followed by CommScope and WR Grace Holdings raising $1.25bn and $1.16bn respectively. In North America, there were a total of 38 upgrades and 20 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. LatAm saw no issuances last week as compared to $2.1bn in the prior week. EU Corporate G3 issuances dropped by half to $8.9bn vs. $19.3bn in the week prior – HSBC’s $3.5bn dual-trancher, BMW’s $2.5bn four-trancher and StanChart’s $1.5bn PerpNC7 led the tables. Across the European region, there were 10 upgrades and 5 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. The GCC saw saw just one G3 deal – a $200mn issuance by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) last week as compared to no issuances in the week before that. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there was 1 upgrade and 1 downgrade across the three major rating agencies. APAC ex-Japan G3 issuances fell to $2.6bn vs. $3.8bn in the prior week – Shaoxing City Investment Group raised $700mn, followed by Azure Power raising $414mn and Sichuan Development raising $400mn. Issuance volumes in the region have dropped significantly MTD in August to only $6.4bn as compared to July that saw $19.9bn in deals by mid-month. In the Asia ex-Japan region, there were 14 upgrades and 5 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week.
