ABN Amro

LBBW and Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) were met with muted demand on Monday morning as the pair ventured into a busier, yet weaker market in search of senior non-preferred debt.

Debt was the answer to every problem in 2020, as companies tried to survive the coronavirus pandemic. Dusty revolving credit facilities that had never been touched were fully drawn, firms begged from governments, those that could flocked to the bond market. Now, with hope of the crisis easing, there is an awful lot of debt to clear up. Mike Turner reports.

The negative new issue premiums, falling spreads and high demand for fresh debt seen in the European high grade corporate bond market this month should mean strong borrowing conditions for the new year. But a reduction in capex spending could mean that dealflow might end up disappointing in the early months of the year.

Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch grocer, has refinanced a €1bn revolving credit facility and added sustainability-linked metrics to the deal, as the company’s capital structure continues its shift towards ecological and socially conscious financing.

The FIG pipeline has slowed to a drip, with the upcoming ECB meeting and Brexit talks bookending what could be the last week of open windows for issuance.

The UK’s SSE Renewables and Norway’s Equinor, two energy companies, have signed what lenders say is the largest ever offshore wind project financing, a £5.5bn package for a wind farm off the UK coast.

Deal arrangers expect that next week will be the last real window for issuance in 2020, with investors set to close down activity from the middle of December.

BNP Paribas took advantage of the thirst for duration in the euro bond market on Thursday, offering investors a chance to get hold of long dated non-preferred senior paper.

Investors pumped €11.65bn of orders into €1.6bn of green and sustainable corporate bonds on Wednesday when paper company Stora Enso, utility Fluvius and real estate firm Cofinimmo all built bulging order books.

Erste Group Bank and Société Générale both capitalised on the euro market’s extremely favourable conditions this week, pricing new subordinated deals in line with fair value or even through it.

An accounting standard was launched on Wednesday that could prove a major step forward in how banks and investors calculate their contributions to climate change, and their progress towards net zero emissions.

TenneT, the Dutch transmission system operator, brought a dual tranche bond on Monday that was bang on trend as far as investors were concerned. The company's shrewd choice of a long dated green bond allowed it to increase the deal while printing it flat to or just through fair value.