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US primary markets continued to stay busy, with $54.6bn in new deals last week vs. $27.9bn a week prior to that. IG issuers racked up $46.2bn in deals led by JPMorgan and Wells Fargo’s $8.5bn and $8bn four-trancher deals each. HY issuers accounted for $8.3bn of the volume with CSC Holdings’ $2.05bn issuance and HUB International’s $1.9bn deals leading the tables. In North America, there were a total of 13 upgrades and 32 downgrades across the three major rating agencies last week. US IG funds saw $227mn in inflows for the week ending January 17, adding to the $838mn seen a week before that. HY funds saw $1bn in inflows during the same period, adding to the $523mn seen a week prior. With primary markets off to a strong start globally, the US IG-space has in particular seen its strongest start in over two decades as per Bloomberg data. FT reported that this was its best start since records going back to 1990.
EU Corporate G3 issuances recorded $35.3bn in new deals after seeing a massive $67.3bn in issuances for consecutive weeks. The largest deals were led by Credit Agricole’s €1.5bn deal, followed by LBBW’s $1.5bn issuance and BPCE’s €1.25bn deal. The region saw 41 upgrades and 15 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. The GCC dollar primary bond market saw $3.9bn in new deals after $13.9bn in deals a week prior to it. This was led by Otel’s $1bn dual-tranche sukuk, BSF’s $700mn sukuk and FAB’s $600mn deal. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there were no upgrades and 4 downgrades across the major rating agencies. LatAm saw $2.2bn in new deals vs. $3bn a week ago with two issuances, as Chile raised $1.7bn and Buffalo Energy Mexico raised $530mn. The South American region saw no upgrade and 18 downgrades across the rating agencies.
G3 issuance volumes from APAC ex-Japan stood at $5.3bn last week vs. $7.6bn a week prior to it, led by Shriram Finance’s $750mn deal, AgBank of China’s $600mn issuance and ANZ’s 500mn deal. In the APAC region, there was 1 upgrade and 10 downgrades across the three rating agencies last week.