US primary market issuances stood at only $18.1bn last week vs. $45.5bn a week prior. IG issuances stood at $16.6bn led by Eli Lilly’s $3.25bn three-trancher and NextEra Energy’s $2.5bn deals. HY issuances stood at a mere $1.1bn with TransDigm being the sole issuer. In North America, there were a total of 37 upgrades and 28 downgrades across the three major rating agencies last week. As per Lipper data, US IG bond funds saw inflows of $184mn in the week ending February 22, adding to the $1.1bn in inflows seen in the week prior. HY bond funds saw $6.1bn of outflows during the week, its third largest on record. This follows the prior week’s $2.8bn in outflows.
LatAm saw no new deals for a second consecutive week. In South America, there were 3 upgrades and 5 downgrades across the major rating agencies. EU Corporate G3 issuance stood at $26.8bn vs. $29.6bn a week prior. Issuance volumes were led by AstraZeneca’s €1.5bn two-trancher and SEB Group’s €1.5bn issuances. Across the European region, there were 23 upgrades and 15 downgrades. The GCC dollar primary bond market saw no new deals last week vs. $1.1bn in deals the week prior. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there were 6 upgrades and 10 downgrades across the major rating agencies.
The APAC ex-Japan G3 region saw $6.7bn in issuances vs. $2.1bn in the week before that led by BHP Group’s $2.75bn triple-trancher and CICC HK’s $1.25bn deal, followed by HDFC Bank’s $750mn issuance. Also, the SGD bond market saw two French issuers come with attractive deals. Credit Agricole priced a S$500mn 10NC5 Tier 2 at 4.85% while BNP Paribas priced a S$600mn PerpNC5 AT1 at 5.9%. The former saw a 24% private banking allocation while the latter saw a 92% allocation. In the APAC region, there were 6 upgrades and 8 downgrades combined across the three rating agencies last week.
