Non-financial debt hits high
CORPORATE debt raisings in the US market have topped the $20bn (£12.3bn) mark for a second consecutive week, with issuance by non-financial firms now at an all-time high.
Debt issues from energy giants Shell International Finance and Cenovus Energy helped debt markets to break records, according to Thomson Reuters.
Investment-grade debt issuance by non-financial companies now totals a giant $372.3bn, beating the previous all-time record set in 2001 for total issuance by this point in the year.
Shell International Finance, the financing arm of Royal Dutch Shell, raised $5bn in an issue carried out by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank, the data firm said. And a $3.5bn issue by Canadian energy group Cenovus also helped smash the previous record.
The top investment bank advising on debt issuance year-to-date is JP Morgan, the data shows, which has now worked on $403.8bn of issues.