GE enjoys €2bn hit, Telefónica a €10bn book

If RCI Banque and Volkswagen played the overture to 2013’s European corporate bond opera last week and on Monday, the first act began dramatically on Tuesday, with a duet between GE Capital’s steady bass and Telefónica’s soaring soprano. As issuance began in earnest with one €2bn deal and one of €1.5bn, the market mood of late 2012 was clearly still in force — if anything, in a still better form for issuers.