Bank of America

The rally set off European Central Bank president Mario Draghi's assertion on Tuesday that further quantitative easing was possible, if not probable, had reached a level by Wednesday that astonished bankers. Three investment grade companies took advantage that day with benchmark bond issues, while one brought a tap.

Investors hoovered up two German hybrid capital issues on Tuesday, in a receptive market spurred on by dovish comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi. They were of very different stripes: a €1.5bn dual tranche issue from Merck, the pharmaceutical company, which was about 7.5 times covered, and a £400m issue from Aroundtown, the property company.

Infineon Technologies, the German semiconductor maker, has raised €1.54bn of fresh equity to finance its takeover of Cypress Semiconductor, an American rival, via an accelerated bookbuild.

Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) made a remarkable return to the debt market on Monday, selling a $500m green bond as its first public dollar deal in 15 years.

China’s Ascentage Pharma Group International and CIMC Vehicles kicked off pre-marketing for their respective Hong Kong IPOs on Monday. Both are expected to launch bookbuilding by the end of June.

Volkswagen surprised the equity capital markets on Friday by setting a range on the IPO of its trucks division, Traton, a few days earlier than most in the market had expected. But the deal has already gained strong investor interest.

The sterling corporate bond market has shown surprising strength for issuers in short maturities this year, but on Wednesday its traditional forte shone through — the ultra-long end, where, as so often, the curve is inverted. Berkshire Hathaway found such good funding there that it scrapped a planned euro issue altogether and raised £1.75bn in sterling.

The European Investment Bank printed a $1bn three year floating rate note linked to the secured overnight financing rate (Sofr) with a coupon structure that mirrors Sonia this week, as the market still tries to find a standard method for the dollar Libor replacement.

Hutchison China MediTech (Chi-Med) is looking to launch bookbuilding for its Hong Kong listing as early as June 21 for proceeds of around $600m, according to a source close to the deal.

European Investment Bank is out with a $1bn three year floating rate note linked to the secured overnight financing rate (Sofr) with a novel coupon structure, though bankers off the deal say it looks cheap.

Two Chinese property companies raised a combined $485m at the end of last week ahead of the holiday weekend in Hong Kong.

The US’s Occidental Petroleum has completed an $8.8bn loan and is raising a $13bn bridge to back its $57bn purchase of Anadarko Petroleum, with a bevy of lenders getting in on the action.