Leveraged/non-investment grade

  • Housing 21 takes big book as investors keep focus on ESG

    Housing 21 takes big book as investors keep focus on ESG

    Housing 21 became the latest UK housing association to receive a strong reception from investors on Friday as it priced a long-dated sterling tap with a book almost three times covered and a negligible new issue concession.

    07 Aug 2020
  • Bank of Cyprus sells €916m of NPLs to Pimco

    Bank of Cyprus sells €916m of NPLs to Pimco

    The Bank of Cyrus has announced the sale of a €916m non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio to Pimco, dubbed Project Helix 2 after the first Project Helix cleared €2.7bn of NPLs from the bank’s balance sheet.

    07 Aug 2020
  • Lower covered bond issuance increased OC levels, says Fitch

    Lower covered bond issuance increased OC levels, says Fitch

    Overcollateralisation (OC) levels have increased on covered bond pools since last year for European issuers, Fitch Ratings said this week. But while issuers in some countries, like the UK, showed a rise above the average, borrowers that have participated in central bank funding, like those in Germany, have managed to keep OC levels down.

    07 Aug 2020
  • Turkish lira madness keeps bond plans on ice

    Turkish lira madness keeps bond plans on ice

    A tumultuous week in Turkish currency markets ended with the lira hitting new lows against the dollar and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey finally taking action to try and calm volatility. Amid such swings, a sovereign bond issue looks unlikely.

    07 Aug 2020
  • Adidas to bring its A game to bond markets

    Adidas to bring its A game to bond markets

    Adidas, the German sportswear giant, is looking to become a more regular borrower in the bond markets after receiving its first ever set of credit ratings on Thursday.

    07 Aug 2020
  • IPO investors pay up for Freeline as biotech fever rises

    IPO investors pay up for Freeline as biotech fever rises

    Freeline, the UK gene therapeutics company, has priced its IPO on the Nasdaq exchange at the top of the pricing range, with investors willing to pay a big premium for the stock. The company is the latest deal in a global biotech issuance spree that has passed $60bn.

    07 Aug 2020
  • China markets round-up: July trade surplus surprises, PBoC reviews monetary policy, most Covid-19 treasury bond proceeds allocated

    China markets round-up: July trade surplus surprises, PBoC reviews monetary policy, most Covid-19 treasury bond proceeds allocated

    In this round up, China records a trade surplus in July that exceeds expectations by a large margin, the central bank reviews the monetary policy from the second quarter and sets a direction for the rest of the year, and the finance minister says more than half of the proceeds from China’s Rmb1tr Covid-19 themed ‘special treasury bonds’ are already in use.

    07 Aug 2020
  • Investors snap up Qingdao LGFV bonds

    Investors snap up Qingdao LGFV bonds

    Chinese local government financing vehicle Qingdao China Prosperity State-owned Capital Operation (Group) Co followed its peers to take an aggressive approach to pricing its $200m bond.

    07 Aug 2020
  • Real money to the fore as Lat Am pair usher in new era of sov debt workouts

    Real money to the fore as Lat Am pair usher in new era of sov debt workouts

    The unprecedented central role real money investors played in debt talks with Argentina and Ecuador could change the nature of sovereign restructuring, experts said, after the two countries this week reached agreements with creditors over billions of dollars of bonds. Oliver West and Ross Lancaster report.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Banconal tightens as buyers spot sov pick-up

    Banconal tightens as buyers spot sov pick-up

    The first ever international bond issued by government-owned lender Banco Nacional de Panamá (Banconal) performed well on the break this week as investors said the deal offered a healthy pick-up to the sovereign curve.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Govs face dilemma on relief measures

    Govs face dilemma on relief measures

    Financial authorities face a tough call on how and when to exit from the exceptional regulatory relief measures they put in place to shelter borrowers from the worst impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

    06 Aug 2020
  • Liquidnet plans to use strengths and launch bond issuance rival

    Liquidnet plans to use strengths and launch bond issuance rival

    Trading platform Liquidnet is set to expand into the primary market through a new issuance system for European corporate and emerging markets bonds, one that would rival Ipreo’s Investor Access and other, newer entrants to the business. Liquidnet’s global head of fixed income, Constantinos Antoniades, discussed the plans with GlobalCapital.

    06 Aug 2020
  • European banks turn to sub debt in Yankee summer spree

    European banks turn to sub debt in Yankee summer spree

    Subordinated debt transactions in dollars from a trio of European banks left no doubts about the strength of the Yankee market this week. Bookrunners are encouraging issuers to execute trades in the asset class quickly, as they are unlikely to encounter better conditions before the end of this year, writes David Freitas.

    06 Aug 2020
  • SURE applications roll in, but Europe still counting on Pepp

    SURE applications roll in, but Europe still counting on Pepp

    European Union member states have begun applying for loans from the bloc’s €100bn Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) package. Unlike with other European rescue lending facilities, countries seem less concerned with the reputational damage of asking for a share of this cash, writes Lewis McLellan.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Lenders disagree over potential demand for social revolvers

    Lenders disagree over potential demand for social revolvers

    Loan market bankers disagree about the impact that the new social revolving credit facility structure will have on the European market — though the first-of-its-kind Covid-19 facility for Suez will likely remain a rarity, after the Loan Market Association said it is not looking at producing documentation for the structure.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Small banks pin hopes on BoE reducing the scope of MREL

    Small banks pin hopes on BoE reducing the scope of MREL

    Smaller UK lenders are hoping the Bank of England will limit the scope of the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) this year, relieving them of the potentially challenging task of raising new bail-inable debt in the capital markets.

    06 Aug 2020
  • PP players stalk larger companies after Vanguard blowout

    PP players stalk larger companies after Vanguard blowout

    Institutional investors in private placements (PPs) have signalled their appetite for borrowers beyond their typical stables throughout the coronavirus pandemic. But this week’s transaction from Vanguard Group — the largest in the market’s history — showed the size of funding available, as buyers demand bigger deals. Silas Brown reports.

    06 Aug 2020
  • European companies eye coronavirus-era M&A

    European companies eye coronavirus-era M&A

    Companies across Europe are shifting their aspirations from surviving the coronavirus pandemic to making the most of the economic opportunities it may present. Both loan and bond bankers are seeing more requests to help clients fund M&A. In the last few weeks, multiple companies have signed loans linked to acquisitions and more are expected after the summer.

    06 Aug 2020
  • People moves in brief

    People moves in brief

    Krupa to replace Cabannes at SG — JP Morgan reshuffles activist defence business — Credit Suisse gives Cohen new position

    06 Aug 2020
  • ECM bankers pray macro risk won’t disrupt deals

    ECM bankers pray macro risk won’t disrupt deals

    Equity capital markets bankers are hoping that global markets maintain the extraordinary bullishness of the last few weeks in what should prove a busy final quarter of the year for issuance. But an unholy trinity of risks are causing concern, particularly for IPOs.

    06 Aug 2020
  • LendingPoint CEO Tom Burnside on the growth of PoS lending

    LendingPoint CEO Tom Burnside on the growth of PoS lending

    Point-of-sale (PoS) and small business lender LendingPoint has experienced strong growth in recent years thanks to the growing segment of young consumers that prefer term loans over a credit card. Tom Burnside, co-founder and CEO of the company, spoke with GlobalCapital about why the industry is gaining traction and its upcoming plans for securitization.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Carnival Cruises buys back rescue convertible

    Carnival Cruises buys back rescue convertible

    Carnival Cruises has launched a partial buy-back of the $2bn three year 5.75% convertible bond it issued in April to provide itself with more liquidity during the Covid-19 global pandemic.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Market welcomes new Natixis CEO Namias

    Market welcomes new Natixis CEO Namias

    Investors appeared positive on Natixis's prospects after Nicolas Namias replaced François Riahi as chief executive. Meanwhile, the bank has said it will reposition its equities division after it endured another tough quarter.

    06 Aug 2020
  • SSAs urged to frontload dollar supply ahead of uncertain year-end

    SSAs urged to frontload dollar supply ahead of uncertain year-end

    Public sector borrowers should consider getting their dollar funding done earlier than usual, ahead of what could be a volatile final quarter with a US presidential election and a possible rise in coronavirus infections, according to debt capital markets bankers.

    06 Aug 2020
  • FCA urges stricter criteria for high cost lenders

    FCA urges stricter criteria for high cost lenders

    The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has laid out expectations for how repeat non-bank lenders should behave once they resume lending, pushing firms to make operational changes to improve customer welfare.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Lower Saxony offers small NIP for negative yielding 10 year

    Lower Saxony offers small NIP for negative yielding 10 year

    The State of Lower Saxony was the sole borrower active in the primary public sector bond market on Thursday as it raised €500m with a 10 year at a negative yield. The deal ended up comfortably subscribed in spite of a slow start to the book-build.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Demand for CMBS aid grows on Capitol Hill

    Demand for CMBS aid grows on Capitol Hill

    The US commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) market has lacked the kind of extensive government support that other asset classes have received, though data shows it is experiencing difficulties. But some are optimistic that the US government will provide aid for the market in its next round of Covid-19 relief measures.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Alibaba Health seals HK’s largest follow-on in five years

    Alibaba Health seals HK’s largest follow-on in five years

    Alibaba Health Information Technology navigated concerns around its lofty valuations to pull off Hong Kong’s largest primary follow-on in five years, raising HK$10bn ($1.29bn) after boosting the size of the deal. The transaction closed with a bulging book, showing that demand for the healthcare sector is yet to peak. Jonathan Breen reports.

    06 Aug 2020
  • ADBC widens investor base with dim sum

    ADBC widens investor base with dim sum

    Agricultural Development Bank of China’s Rmb4.3bn ($618m) dim sum bond this week brought in a record number of investors from outside of Asia, a senior treasury official told GlobalCapital China.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Hammerson joins wave of mega rights issues

    Hammerson joins wave of mega rights issues

    Hammerson, the UK property company, launched a £550m rights issue on Thursday morning, becoming the latest firm to come to market with a large capital raise to offset the damage of a long Covid-19 pandemic.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Hope Education boosts debut share placement

    Hope Education boosts debut share placement

    Hope Education Group made its debut visit to the equity capital market this week, raising HK$1.2bn ($153m) after increasing the size of a primary share placement.

    06 Aug 2020
  • BoE floats ‘temporary changes’ to capital buffers

    BoE floats ‘temporary changes’ to capital buffers

    The Bank of England has said it may be necessary to make ‘temporary changes’ to capital buffers in the UK, owing to concerns that the existing framework could discourage banks from lending during the coronavirus pandemic.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Nykredit readies last tap of biggest ever covered

    Nykredit readies last tap of biggest ever covered

    Danish covered bond auction season is underway with Nykredit and Nordea announcing sales. August’s auctions also provide the last opportunity to buy certain 30-year callable bonds, of which one is the largest covered bond ever issued.

    06 Aug 2020
  • European lenders relieved as business returns to run of the mill transactions

    European lenders relieved as business returns to run of the mill transactions

    A glut of syndicated loans has been signed among European high grade borrowers that are for general corporate and refinancing purposes — a sign, said loans bankers, that the market is returning to business as usual for the rest of the year, marking what will at least be a change from the frantic emergency capital raising which began in spring.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Negative rates ‘in the toolbox’

    Negative rates ‘in the toolbox’

    Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has announced that negative rates are “part of the toolbox” but that he sees no reason to make use of them yet.

    06 Aug 2020

  • Taylor returns to Goldman for Australia ECM job

    Ian Taylor has rejoined Goldman Sachs, as head of equity capital markets for Australia and New Zealand, following a short stint at a fintech-focused merchant bank in the US.

    06 Aug 2020

  • Now is a good time to dump old friends

    Social distancing, wearing masks in public, bars and restaurants shutting down en masse: the coronavirus is a gift to those trying to avoid people.

    06 Aug 2020
  • The right time for rights issues

    The right time for rights issues

    Equity capital markets are preparing for a busy autumn, with companies looking to raise cash to survive and thrive through the Covid-19 pandemic. But the window for raking in money may well be small, with a number of factors, of which a rising infection rate is only one, threatening turbulence for some time to come.

    06 Aug 2020
  • CMB Leasing revives 10yr bonds for China FIG

    CMB Leasing revives 10yr bonds for China FIG

    CMB Financial Leasing Co returned with five year and 10 year dual-tranche bonds on Wednesday, selling the first decade bond from a Chinese FIG credit in more than a month as costs for longer-dated notes fall.

    06 Aug 2020
  • Janus eyes mid-sized investors with triple-A CLO ETF

    Janus eyes mid-sized investors with triple-A CLO ETF

    Asset manager Janus Henderson is planning to bring CLOs to mid-size institutional investors with an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused on triple-A CLOs, it emerged this week. The ETF could broaden the CLO investor base beyond large banks and insurance companies.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Commerz warns on corona impact for corporate clients

    Commerz warns on corona impact for corporate clients

    Commerzbank expects its corporate division to remain under pressure from the coronavirus crisis in the second half of the year, after a second quarter where international firms rushed to take out debt products but the bank was stung by a large single provision, understood to relate to disgraced payments company, Wirecard.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Southern Europe NPL securitizations run into trouble

    Southern Europe NPL securitizations run into trouble

    Two NPL securitizations originated via the Italian guarantee scheme (GACS) have hit trouble following a fall in collections due to the coronavirus crisis, with the deals triggering interest payment shortfalls on the junior notes.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Lower Saxony to keep SSA primary open

    Lower Saxony to keep SSA primary open

    The State of Lower Saxony mandated banks on Wednesday to run a 10 year euro benchmark on Thursday, as German states remain the only action in the public sector primary market.

    05 Aug 2020
  • European companies eye coronavirus M&A

    European companies eye coronavirus M&A

    Companies across Europe are shifting their aspirations from surviving the coronavirus pandemic to making the most of the economic opportunities it may present. Both loan and bond bankers are seeing more requests to help clients fund M&A. In the last few weeks three companies have signed loans linked to acquisitions, and there are expected to be more after the summer.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Citi moves MTN banker to SSA syndicate

    Citi moves MTN banker to SSA syndicate

    Charles-Antoine Roche has joined Citi’s sovereign, supranational and agency syndicate desk after spending over a decade in the bank’s medium term notes business.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Mediolanum hires Goldman alum in Dublin

    Mediolanum hires Goldman alum in Dublin

    Mediolanum International Funds Ltd (MIFL), the international asset management arm of Italy’s Mediolanum has appointed a new portfolio manager for its European equities team in Dublin.

    05 Aug 2020
  • SG finds new head for investment bank

    SG finds new head for investment bank

    Slawomir Krupa will replace Séverin Cabannes to lead Société Générale’s global banking and investor solutions (GBIS) activities from next year. The division reported a net loss of €604m in the first half of the year.

    05 Aug 2020
  • MREL woes resurface for Metro Bank

    MREL woes resurface for Metro Bank

    Metro Bank has said that it could slip below its minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities in the coming months. It is paying close attention to a review of MREL being carried out by the Bank of England, which may help it to avoid embarking on another costly debt-raising exercise.

    05 Aug 2020
  • BNPP sells MTNs linked to new Aussie climate index

    BNPP sells MTNs linked to new Aussie climate index

    BNP Paribas has issued a series of green medium-term notes linked to the performance of the new Australian Climate Transition Index (ACT), which is made up of companies expected to thrive in the transition to keep global warming below 2°C.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Squeeze tightens but no room for complacency

    Squeeze tightens but no room for complacency

    European Central Bank covered bond buying and mounting covered bond redemptions will exacerbate a technical squeeze — but with Bunds set to underperform swaps, issuers cannot afford to be complacent.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Kroll downgrades Kabbage, Funding Circle small business ABS

    Kroll downgrades Kabbage, Funding Circle small business ABS

    Kroll’s recent downgrades of three classes of notes issued by online small business lender Kabbage, just one week after the rating agency took negative rating action on six notes from Funding Circle, show the distress rising up from businesses to the marketplace lending sector as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Capital markets ready for insurer financing as FCA case ends

    Capital markets ready for insurer financing as FCA case ends

    The insurance industry is eagerly awaiting the result of a court case which would determine whether they have to pay out Covid-19 claims under basic business interruption policies. If the case goes against them some are expected to hit the capital markets for financing.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Housing 21 joins UK housing association issuance fray

    Housing 21 joins UK housing association issuance fray

    Housing 21, a UK housing association, is looking to tap its November 2049 notes for an expected £100m, as bond market participants say that the Covid-19 economic crisis has made housing associations an attractive option for high grade sterling investment.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Sloppy machete: Pizza Express runs out of dough

    Sloppy machete: Pizza Express runs out of dough

    Pizza Express’s plans to restructure its debt, shut restaurants and sell its UK business have hammered home the latest nail in the coffin of the UK casual dining sector. As appetite for eating out dwindles following lockdown, coupled with a heavy oversupply of mid-market restaurant chains, the coronavirus pandemic has hastened the decline of a sector which has dominated UK dining over the past few decades.

    05 Aug 2020
  • Yiwu LGFV squeezes price on $500m bond

    Yiwu LGFV squeezes price on $500m bond

    Chinese local government financing vehicle (LGFV) Yiwu State-owned Capital Operation Co replicated its peers’ recent bond pricing success, to raise $500m with a 65bp price tightening during bookbuilding.

    05 Aug 2020
more leveraged/non-investment grade