The volume of USD and EUR high-yield-bond issuance fell by a modest 9.3% QoQ in 3Q20 across North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), with a decline in North America mostly offset by a rebound in the other two regions.

Total issuance by principal amount from the three regions was USD 166.89bn-equivalent across 273 deals in 3Q20, down from USD 183.97bn-equivalent via 275 transactions in the previous quarter. On a YoY basis, 3Q20 volumes surged 49.8% from the USD 111.41bn-equivalent printed across 221 deals in 3Q19.

New issuances in North America fell 22.8% QoQ to USD 116.5bn in 3Q20 from USD 150.9bn in 2Q20. APAC (ex-Japan) volumes almost doubled to USD 24.64bn from a lackluster 2Q20 when just USD 12.54bn was recorded, and Western Europe posted a 25.4% growth to USD 25.74bn from USD 20.52bn in 2Q20.

For the first nine months of 2020, total issuance from the three regions was USD 478.80bn on 772 deals, a 38.9% increase by value from the USD 344.64bn printed in 9M19 on 682 deals. North America accounted for 69.8% of the total by value, followed by Western Europe with 15.4% and APAC (ex-Japan) with the remaining 14.8%.

To be used for the internal business of the assigned users only. Sharing, distributing or forwarding the entirety or any part of this article in any form to anyone that does not have access under your agreement is strictly prohibited and doing so violates your contract and is considered a breach of copyright. Any unauthorised recipient or distributor of this article is liable to Debtwire for unauthorised use and copyright breach.

Jason Huang-Jones APAC Data Manager Debtwire