Corporate Debt

Gautam Adani’s woes were in banks’ plain sight

8 Feb 2023

Barclays, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank and others helped the Indian tycoon supersize his empire. A $110 bln share rout exposes their willingness to ignore warnings and take a narrow view of risk on lucrative relationships. As Adani struggles, the questions will get louder.

Credit Suisse overcooks First Boston sales pitch

6 Feb 2023

The Swiss bank wants to sell $500 mln of debt, with a twist: it will be repaid with shares in its dealmaking business when that gets spun off, Reuters reported. It’s potentially a cheap way of raising funds. But it assumes investors will want those shares when the time comes.

Capital Calls: Tyson Foods, Electric cars

6 Feb 2023

Concise views on global finance: Shares in the meat producer fell nearly 6% after it revealed less-than-savory results; Faraday Future and Canoo are raising capital amid a fresh stock market rally for the industry.

Adani’s share sale U-turn spares only some blushes

2 Feb 2023

It nixed a $2.4 bln offer after a near-30% fall in Adani Enterprises’ stock. But big funds, including from Abu Dhabi, still face hard questions for participating. Ditto the banking advisers. The dead deal shows support for Gautam Adani has limits, and the controversy will run on.

Petrol tycoons’ debt juggle may be a deal too far

31 Jan 2023

The Issa brothers may mesh their grocer Asda together with the UK arm of their gas pump operator EG Group. A deal, worth say 3 bln pounds, would help the shaky forecourt business cut debt, and ease a refinancing cliff. But it would leave the supermarket weaker, amid a price war.

Adani’s financing safety-net rests on Indian banks

30 Jan 2023

Gautam Adani looks locked out of capital markets after a short-seller attack wiped $48 bln off the market value of his companies and caused bonds to tumble. Indian lenders have capacity to step in. What they do next will reveal the extent of state support for the tycoon.

Short-seller attack raises Gautam Adani stakes

25 Jan 2023

Hindenburg reinforces how the $230 bln empire of the world’s third richest man is closely held, overvalued, and dismissed by Wall St. The upstart’s record of exposing U.S. fraud will make India sit up. But Adani is a giant target, and too many powerbrokers have a lot to lose.

Amazon creates bazaar for U.S. banking wannabes

24 Jan 2023

The e-commerce titan’s latest debt, an $8 bln loan, is curious, but not as much as the foreign institutions providing it. Australia’s ANZ, Spain’s BBVA, Singapore’s DBS and others rarely turn up in such deals. The likelihood of them leveraging this one into more business is slim.

Vodafone dials up India’s inefficient debt market

17 Jan 2023

Its top creditor, the government, is dithering on restructuring the telecom operator’s $27 bln of borrowings. A sustainable fix would leave New Delhi owning the company. What politicians do next will determine how deep India’s fight against bad debt goes.

Chinese convertible bonds set off cash crunch

13 Jan 2023

Video app Bilibili, e-commerce firm Pinduoduo and peers jumped on the convertible debt boom, issuing $27 bln worth since 2019. With share prices down, holders will want companies to buy the notes back early. As growth slows, their desperation is an opportunity for private equity.

China’s property debt red lines need a redraw

11 Jan 2023

The policy Beijing introduced in 2020 to cap developers' leverage is backfiring. The “three red lines” on debt ratios are now aggravating market stress and impairing balance sheets. Officials are considering blurring or moving the lines. They might have to erase them.

India’s Vodafone stress test may have ugly results

6 Jan 2023

The telecom operator needs cash to keep up with rivals. But top shareholders are reluctant to infuse much, and the government’s promise to swap some of Vodafone’s $27 bln net debt for equity hasn’t materialised. No one looks good and a long standoff will end up in a duopoly.

Asia debt craze spawns vicious tech funding circle

9 Dec 2022

India’s Byju’s wants easier terms on an existing $1.2 bln loan, one of a series of punchy deals the region’s hottest money-losing firms sold to BlackRock and others ahead of planned listings. Poor results and rising funding costs raise the stakes on getting IPOs across the line.

Capital Calls: Funky debt shock

29 Nov 2022

Concise views on global finance: Germany property group Aroundtown won’t be the last to flout bond market convention on hybrid debt.

Tycoons school banks in Indian retailer debt mess

25 Nov 2022

Thirteen suitors are queuing up to buy Future Retail out of bankruptcy, boding well for creditors’ prospects of resolving $3 bln of claims. Despite new rules, the saga has benefited Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance at the expense of lenders. Big business still has the upper hand.

Debt woes will restrain Enel’s global ambitions

22 Nov 2022

CEO Francesco Starace vowed to cut the 52 bln euro utility’s net debt by 21 bln euros, amid spiralling gas costs. Focusing on fewer regions looks sensible and may shield investments and dividends. But it will hinder Enel’s efforts to stay one of the top energy transition winners.

China’s property easing is minor capitulation

14 Nov 2022

Beijing has rolled out quick-fix measures like extending repayment periods to avert defaults and lowering mortgage down-payments, a signal that officials are sticking to their guns on deleveraging despite economic stress. That makes boosting the rest of the economy more urgent.

Fed gets credit for providing perpetual angst

8 Nov 2022

Investors in Asia are overreacting after a South Korean issuer flipflopped on a decision to exercise a call option on a $500 mln bond. Liquidity measures from Seoul eased an earlier rout but pressure from U.S. rate hikes is turning boring corners of finance into something hot.

Risky debt selloff has much further to run

28 Oct 2022

Investors are dumping corporate bonds as interest rates rise. Relatively safe investment grade securities have fallen harder than those issued by junk-rated borrowers, which hit $650 bln last year. That will reverse as high-yield debt starts pricing in defaults and a recession.

Sovereign debt greens yet net-zero pledges darken

13 Oct 2022

Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund is the latest public body to issue securities to fund renewable assets. Strong buyer demand and the chance to flaunt action on climate change explain the boom. Yet national decarbonisation targets remain weak, and green bonds do little to improve them.