Rising Japanese bond yields have encouraged global investors and companies to increase their hedging of Japanese interest rate risk for the first time in years, banks and consultants say, ahead of Japan’s snap general election this weekend in which prime minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party is projected to win a landslide victory.
SpaceX has acquired its sister company xAI for US$250bn, in a deal that will provide some much-needed financial support to the lossmaking AI and social media platform – but which could complicate the rocket maker’s plans to launch the world’s biggest ever IPO in June.
The stalled sovereign debt-for-development swap market is set for its first deals in more than a year after a notable new player created by DFD pioneer Ramzi Issa signed up a leading speciality insurer to back its transactions.
After five years of under-budget privatisation receipts, the Indian government appears to have finally decided to take advantage of the country's booming equity capital market to sell more stakes in state-owned companies.
The UK's Transition Finance Council is getting ready to publish overarching global guidelines to assess the credibility of companies and groups' transition plans as the architecture to scale up transition finance continues to move into place.
Alphabet to debut in sterling and Swissie in funding blitz
Google’s parent Alphabet is poised to make its debut in the sterling and Swiss franc markets as part of a 17-tranche triple-currency trade announced on Monday, with one of the tranches to be a rare 100-year bond in the UK currency.
AI jitters fail to stymie Alphabet’s US$20bn bond binge
Alphabet raised US$20bn on Monday through a seven-tranche bond offering that generated a final order book of US$94.5bn and is part of a multi-market foray to fund the extraordinary amounts of investment required to meet the Google parent's AI ambitions.
BNP Paribas gets a podium finish on euro AT1 return
BNP Paribas earned a spot on the euro Additional Tier 1 pricing podium on Monday, printing a €1.25bn perpetual non-call seven-year bond with the market's second tightest reset spread – only narrowly behind UniCredit's recent gold medal winning effort – in its first such issuance for three years.
Marathon and Castlelake are returning to the aviation securitization market to take advantage of tight spreads and rising lease prices for planes as a result of tight supply and robust ridership.
Swedbank drew almost threefold demand for a £400m short six-year non-call green senior non-preferred transaction on Monday, one of the tightest sterling senior non-preferred bonds ever printed, according to the leads.
The AI boom has been backed by investor enthusiasm – and their money – on an unprecedented scale. Investment bankers have high hopes of a huge year for deals. But just like the broader economy, will this be a K-shaped market for tech deals?
SpaceX purchase of xAI brings relief – and headaches – ahead of record IPO
SpaceX has acquired its sister company xAI for US$250bn, in a deal that will provide some much-needed financial support to the lossmaking AI and social media platform – but which could complicate the rocket maker’s plans to launch the world’s biggest ever IPO in June.
UBS steps up return ambitions after trading record
UBS has increased its returns target for 2028 after delivering bumper annual results as its takeover of Credit Suisse continues to bear fruit and it delivered record fourth-quarter trading revenues, up 17% from a year earlier.
Hong Kong's securities regulator is clamping down on poor quality listing documents after identifying some "serious deficiencies" in filings, warning that some bookrunners are failing to meet standards as they grapple with a surge in initial public offerings.
Who's next for DSRB after Canada backs defence bank?
Canada has publicly backed the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, becoming the first sovereign to offer verbal support in a major milestone for the proposed multilateral development bank.
AI jitters fail to stymie Alphabet’s US$20bn bond binge
Alphabet raised US$20bn on Monday through a seven-tranche bond offering that generated a final order book of US$94.5bn and is part of a multi-market foray to fund the extraordinary amounts of investment required to meet the Google parent's AI ambitions.
BNP Paribas gets a podium finish on euro AT1 return
BNP Paribas earned a spot on the euro Additional Tier 1 pricing podium on Monday, printing a €1.25bn perpetual non-call seven-year bond with the market's second tightest reset spread – only narrowly behind UniCredit's recent gold medal winning effort – in its first such issuance for three years.
Alphabet to debut in sterling and Swissie in funding blitz
Google’s parent Alphabet is poised to make its debut in the sterling and Swiss franc markets as part of a 17-tranche triple-currency trade announced on Monday, with one of the tranches to be a rare 100-year bond in the UK currency.
Swedbank drew almost threefold demand for a £400m short six-year non-call green senior non-preferred transaction on Monday, one of the tightest sterling senior non-preferred bonds ever printed, according to the leads.
European corporate supply picked up again as companies from the continent are starting to emerge from blackout. On Monday, five issuers priced euro deals, while two more announced mandates.
Marathon and Castlelake are returning to the aviation securitization market to take advantage of tight spreads and rising lease prices for planes as a result of tight supply and robust ridership.
A Blackstone joint venture is in the securitisation market with a US$3bn offering to refinance the Cosmopolitan casino on the Las Vegas Strip that it purchased in 2022.
Australian digital financial services company Zip broke new ground with its 12th buy now, pay later consumer loans ABS issue, the A$300m (US$210m) Zip Master Trust Series 2026-1, which was priced on January 30.
Blue bond buyers Fidelity and T Rowe Price supported a US$50m private placement by Turkey's Isbank that marked the country’s first water-related offering taken up by commercial investors.
The stalled sovereign debt-for-development swap market is set for its first deals in more than a year after a notable new player created by DFD pioneer Ramzi Issa signed up a leading speciality insurer to back its transactions.
Transition Finance Council set to publish new guidelines
The UK's Transition Finance Council is getting ready to publish overarching global guidelines to assess the credibility of companies and groups' transition plans as the architecture to scale up transition finance continues to move into place.
CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean has become the first borrower to apply the United Nations Children’s Fund’s Child-Lens Investing Framework to its bond issues. Launched in September 2023 and updated the following year, the framework aims "to advance positive child outcomes while also minimising child harm".
The World Bank should allocate far more of its record profits to its International Development Association concessional loan and grant arm for the world’s poorest countries, according to the Centre for Global Development.
Seeds and crop protection giant Syngenta Group met banks last week to pick IPO arrangers for what could be the largest listing in Hong Kong in seven years.
The board of India's National Stock Exchange has approved an all-secondary IPO and the company will start meeting banks to finalise the IPO syndicate over the next few weeks, according to market participants.
Liftoff Mobile pulled its up to US$762m Nasdaq IPO on Thursday evening in the wake of the week's selloff of software stocks due to investor concerns about the threat to the sector from AI.
Oracle takes bottom-up approach to funding 2026 capex
Amid an unprecedented AI-focused borrowing binge, Oracle became the first of the hyperscalers to blink on the public equity side, raising US$5bn from the sale of a mandatory convertible preferred, while filing to sell another US$20bn of stock on the open market through an at-the-market programme.
A group of banks, including Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have underwritten up to €4.95bn in debt financing to back the €7.8bn buyout of Polish parcel locker firm InPost by a consortium led by Advent and delivery firm FedEx, sources familiar with the situation said.
A wide syndicate of banks, including Citigroup and UBS, are supporting CVC Capital’s acquisition of Dutch DSM-Firmenich’s Animal Nutrition & Health business with a term loan B of around €800m and an RCF, according to sources.
Swedish infrastructure safety services firm Ramudden Global has launched a €1.175bn term loan B that will be used to fund the acquisition of the business by private equity firm I Squared Capital.
Veterinary care provider IVC Evidensia has pulled the transaction that was aimed at extending the maturity of its US$1.113bn, €2.422bn, and £1.143bn senior secured term loan Bs.
Underwriting banks have been forced to fund the debt backing Conga’s acquisition of the business-to-business division of Pros Holdings amid a sharp selloff in software stocks as investors raised concerns about the borrower’s AI exposure.
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