The Week That Was (14 – 20 March)

US primary market issuances dropped to only $18.5bn vs. $55bn in the week prior. Investment grade (IG) corporates once again took the chunk of issuances, with $16.5bn of deals while high yield (HY) issuance stood at a mere $604mn. The largest IG deals included Wells Fargo’s $4bn issuance, followed by BofA’s $3.5bn two-trancher and Toyota Motors’ $3bn three-trancher. In the HY space, Crown American’s $500mn deal led the table. In North America, there were a total of 28 upgrades and 19 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week. LatAm issuance was at $762mn vs. $2bn in the prior week, solely from Aeromexico’s issuance. In South America, there was 2 upgrades and 4 downgrades across the major rating agencies. EU Corporate G3 issuances stood at $31.4bn vs. $17.8bn in the week prior, led by FMS Wertmanagement’s $4bn two-trancher and Credit Suisse’s €3.5bn two-trancher. Across the European region, there were 3 upgrades and 69 downgrades across the three major rating agencies, with the chunk of downgrades once again dominated by Ukranian and Russian corporates. The GCC G3 region saw a mere $100mn vs. $69mn in issuances in the week before, led by Sharjah’s $100mn deal. Across the Middle East/Africa region, there was 1 upgrade and 3 downgrades across the three major rating agencies. APAC ex-Japan G3 issuances stood at $5.96bn vs. $8.3bn led by Macquarie’s $2.75bn four-trancher, followed by ANZ’s €750mn deal and Korea Housing Finance’s €600mn deal. In the APAC region, there were 3 upgrades and 11 downgrades combined across the three major rating agencies last week.