Deal calendar grows; ADB prices $4 billion notes; Bahrain plans multi-tranche dollar benchmark

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Sept. 6 – Emerging primary markets were active across the globe on Wednesday, with the Philippines’ Asian Development Bank pricing $4 billion of five-year notes, Turkey pricing a $1.75 billion tap of its 5¾% notes due 2047 – doubling the size of that issue – and Bahrain setting a roadshow for a multi-tranche dollar-denominated benchmark to start Friday.

Order books for the Asian Development Bank deal grew to some $6.2 billion ahead of pricing, according to a syndicate source.

A pair of deals emerged with a Latin America focus, including GeoPark Ltd.’s new notes offering to be used to pay for a tender of its $300 million of 7½% senior notes due 2020. That roadshow was slated to begin on Friday, with meetings wrapping up next week on Sept. 13. Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs are the banks involved in the deal for the Buenos Aires-based oil and gas company.

Meanwhile Adecoagro SA is planning to sell dollar-denominated notes, involving banks including JPMorgan, Itau BBA and Morgan Stanley. Adecoagro is a Latin American agricultural company based in Luxembourg.

The quick restart for Latin America’s emerging primary market was chalked up to the fact that September is generally a busy month and because there are a number of elections scheduled in Latin America in the next year and issuers are trying to get financing lined up ahead of the political uncertainty, a New York-based sellsider said.

Back in existing paper, emerging market notes were mostly steady as U.S. Treasuries retreated slightly following a rally on Tuesday.

Investors were on alert to Atlantic Ocean weather developments as Hurricane Irma barreled into the Virgin Islands as a Category 5 storm and had Puerto Rico in its crosshairs for early Thursday. The storm arrives on the heels of Hurricane Harvey, which devastated the Houston metropolitan area last weekend.

Investors were also watching political developments in Washington. U.S. Treasuries pulled back after news that the Trump administration reached a deal to raise the government debt ceiling for three months until Dec. 15 and provide an initial installment of aid to Harvey victims.

And investors were also watching North Korea and developments in international diplomacy to contain that threat. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury settled at 2.108%, up slightly from 2.072%, which was a fresh low for 2017.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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