The GlobalCapital Podcast

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◆ How AI threat to software biz threatens stockmarket listings... 

◆ ... and collaterlised loan obligation market 

◆ AT1 market hits new record tight but buyers turn away

Investors are wary that recent AI upgrades — notably Anthropic's latest Claude Cowork agent — are a threat to the software as a service (Saas) sector. This is causing headaches for Saas businesses looking to do an IPO this year as well as the private ...

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◆ Why emerging market issuers are doing less in dollars 

◆ Republic of Congo — located between rock and hard place 

◆ The GlobalCapital Podcast was brought to you by the numbers 17, 100 and the whole Alphabet

Emerging market issuers are diversifying away from dollar funding. We examine which currencies they are looking to raise debt capital with and what is driving them out of the dollar market.

We also dissect the tough cho...

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◆ Bond auctions get the fintech treatment 

◆ Oracle shows how to fund AI capex with bonds 

◆ Banks plough on in bonds despite weaker markets

There's nothing new about auctioning bonds as a means to distribute them but this week, fintech BondAuction was involved in a deal for The Housing Finance Corporation that brought new technology to the idea and introduced it to a new section of the market. We discussed how it work...

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◆ Scottish government bonds near 

◆ CLOs and private credit 

◆ Corporate hybrid debt reaches new tights

Scotland is looking for banks and lawyers to help bring its first bond to market. But the idea raised a number of questions at GC Towers this week. Firstly, what is Scotland? Is it a sovereign issuer, a sub-sovereign, or something altogether new?

Not only did we wonder what investors would be buying but we also questioned ...

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◆ CSG's IPO and the rampant investment for defence companies 

◆ Ukraine issuer back in bond market 

◆ Fomo sapiens: investment bankings most joyless

Money is pouring into defence, both from government budgets and from investors in the capital markets. The IPO of Czech defence supplier CSG this week was an extraordinary transaction — the largest European listing to date and the biggest ever from the industry. We dissect...

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◆ Public sector issuers embrace hedge fund bid... 

◆ ... as they flex in the swap market 

◆ Car makers welcomed back to bond market

Allocating more of a new issue to hedge funds has long been something SSA issuers have only done if they absolutley needed to. But that is now changing. Issuers are giving more bonds to the so-called fast money but only if it slows down. We discuss which types of hedge funds are getting more SS...

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◆ What has driven this week's record issuance and what might threaten sentiment 

◆ Why the Maduro affair is a wake-up call for the EU 

◆ Resolving Venezuela's debtberg 

After a rip-roaring start to the bond market this week, we take a look at just how good it is for issuers and what has driven the huge volumes. Sure, the Epiphany holiday on Tuesday pushed issuers to do their euro funding in a particularly narrow w...

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◆ Data centres: crunch time for Europe's capital markets 

◆ How AI is changing capital markets work...  

◆ ... and hiring

It is no secret that data centre financing will be an increasingly important part of the capital markets in the years ahead. But this week we discuss why it is such a vital test for the EU's capital markets and the bloc's overall competitiveness as we contrast the progress in data centre s...

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◆ Simplification plans boggle bank boffins 

◆ Hungry, hungry hyperscalers to push utilities into bond market 

◆ A loan in the sand: private credit jostles for place in Middle East debt markets

On last week's episode we discussed how the ECB was preparing to recommend simplifications to the way EU banks are regulated, in order to make them more competitive and to drive growth. This week it made its recommendations but t...

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◆ Private credit and equity to come under oversight for first time... 

◆ ... as Bank of England eases burden on banks... 

◆ ... amid global shift to lighten up on lenders, with ECB expected next

Alternative asset managers will finally come under the Bank of England's scrutiny, the central bank and regulator said this week. We discuss in detail how that will work and what the implications for the ballooning sector may b...

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◆ UK government guns for growth but did it miss? 

◆  French fancy: FIG in favour again 

◆ Pandas and Wontons with the AIIB

After months of speculation, the UK government delivered its Autumn Budget this week. The country may have felt like it has been through the worst of times but are we about to enter the best of times? We pick through the policies to see how they will affect capital markets from IPOs to retail investment...

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◆ Are investment bank bonuses going up this year, and when does everyone get paid? 

◆ How the UK government's 'binary' Budget is affecting bank bond issuers 

◆ Legal pressure builds on MDBs to reassess climate impact

The UK government's Budget announcement next week has been the source of rabid speculation for months. The uncertainty is affecting how banks in particular approach the sterling bond market ...

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◆ Private credit, banks or securitization — which one is regulated too lightly? 

◆ How AI capex will affect Europe's bond market 

◆ What do defence bonds achieve?

Two senior UK bankers were in the House of Lords this week pleading for lighter regulation in the face of competition from private credit and their US rivals. One, Michael Roberts, the CEO of HSBC Bank plc and its CEO of corporate and institutional banking, e...

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◆ Why Europe's corporate bond market is on a roll 

◆ Reverse Yankees, hot hybrids and huge size with more to come 

◆ Europe's stock exchanges' attempts to drum up more IPOs

Market participants had expected this week to be a busy one for euro and sterling investment grade corporate bond issuance. But the volume of business that was done exceeded all expectations. 

With jumbo deals from the likes of Alphabet to ...

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◆ Pause clauses could add to disaster arsenal 

◆ KfW CEO Stefan Wintels on bond digitisation 

◆ What ESG backlash? Banks ramp up green bond issuance

As Hurricane Melissa ripped through the Carribbean this week, the bond market had a part to play in helping Jamaica fund its recovery from the storm. That came in the form of a catastrophe bond, which we explain in detail, but we also discuss how sovereign debt could be tweaked...

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◆ What is pushing CLO mezz wider 

◆ FIG pre-funding underway 

◆ What happened at the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings

The CLO market is both subject to and affects what happens in leveraged loans, risking distortion in the latter. First, we discuss why the riskier bits of the CLO stack are trading wider. Then we delve into why CLOs give us cause to think that leveraged loan pricing may not purely reflect the credit quality of...

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◆ Holders win write-down ruling but path to recovery uncertain 

◆ StrideUp brings Islamic innovation to UK securitization 

◆ Emerging market bonds have an off-week (almost)

We picked apart a Swiss court ruling this week that overturned the country's financial regulator's decision in March 2023 to write-down Credit Suisse's additional tier one (AT1) paper.

The decision was controversial at the time because the ...

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◆ Why buy bonds when spreads are so tight 

◆ Using tech to unearth new economic signals 

◆ Playing the shifting relative value pitch

This week, in an exclusive interview with world's largest investment manager, BlackRock, we discussed how much tighter credit spreads can go, what is driving it and how the company is adjusting to underlying shifts in relative value.

We also debated tech: whether digitalisation of the bond...

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◆ Italy dazzles with size as we launch our new MTN Awards 

◆ Enel snubs the market it created

◆ Record month for CEEMEA bond issuers 

Italy showed just what the medium term note market can do for borrowers this week as it priced a €700m deal. We examine what the benefits were to the issuer. 

We are also launching our first ever dedicated MTN Awards. We tell you how they will be awarded and how to take part but you can also c...