Halkbank and upcoming deal eyed after exec’s arrest; EM trading mixed; AFC markets notes

By Christine Van Dusen

Atlanta, March 28 – On a mixed Tuesday for emerging markets assets, Turkey-based Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS (Halkbank) was eyed after a top banker at the company was arrested in the United States.

The news had investors wondering whether Halkbank’s upcoming dollar-denominated issue of benchmark-sized notes due in 10 years could be derailed.

Meanwhile, other emerging markets names continued to chug along.

“Yesterday was a day of reflection rather than action as accounts were more inclined to see if the United States Treasury rally held than take advantage of the spread widening,” a London-based trader said. “That was certainly the reason for the slow book build of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi five-year seniors.”

Investors were also keeping an eye on South Africa, where Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was expected to be fired.

Looking to Asia, the session was mixed and range-bound for investment-grade corporate bonds, a trader said.

“Today sees spreads from unchanged to 1 bp tighter, in general, but once again activity is limited to a handful of names,” he said.

Financial names were firm, another trader said, with spreads 1 bp to 2 bps tighter.

In deal-related news, Nigeria’s Africa Finance Corp. (AFC) will set out on Thursday for a roadshow to market a dollar-denominated issue of benchmark-sized notes due in up to 10 years, a market source said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.