Bank of America

Rating: Aaa/AAA

Ireland is looking at the possibility of issuing its first ever benchmark inflation linked bond in 2019, amid an expected surge in the euro public sector linker market this year. Meanwhile, Portugal is waiting for the final approval of its inaugural Panda bond, which will be sold as part of an Rmb6bn three year programme.

Rating: B1/B+/BB-

There has been precious little cheer in the dollar market but Anheuser Busch Inbev (AB InBev) provided some on Thursday when it printed the biggest corporate investment grade trade since October amid signs of improving sentiment.

Sterling issuance from non-UK public sector borrowers has made by far its strongest ever start to a calendar year, with borrowers and bankers citing liquidity-laden investors and a crucial parliamentary vote on Brexit next week as factors behind the rush. Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and FMS Wertmanagement added to the feast on Thursday, while Inter-American Development Bank will bring yet another trade this Friday.

Yapi Kredi sold the first ever public additional tier one (AT1) bond from Turkey on Wednesday, which leads said would act as a benchmark for future issuers from the country despite the deal having been largely sold to the borrower’s shareholders.

China YuHua Education Corp has bagged HK$940m ($119.9m) from a sub-one year convertible bond, bumping up the deal size on the back of strong hedge fund demand.

Anta Sports Products has launched its €2.2bn loan to back the acquisition of Amer Sports Oyj into general syndication, with HSBC joining the bookrunning group.

Appetite for eurozone sovereigns is showing no signs of slowing down after Ireland and Portugal joined Belgium this week in scoring their largest ever syndication order books. Several other borrowers sold euro trades on Wednesday, with more supply expected this week as the pipeline has “accelerated” ahead of next week’s parliamentary vote on the UK’s Brexit deal.

After a run of triple-B rated corporate bond issuance, A-rated names have returned to the market and paid lower premiums than the higher beta issuers had, but 10.75 years remains the longest tenor to date.

Yapi Kredi, the Turkish bank, has set the pricing for its additional tier one bond though eschewing a “traditional bookbuild process”.

China YuHua Education Corp has launched bookbuilding for a sub-one year convertible bond that could raise up to HK$800m ($102.1m).