Bank of America

High-grade dollar bond supply continued to flow with a flurry of smaller deals this week but bankers see little to cheer about as a disappointing first quarter drew to a close.

UK transport operator FirstGroup has raised dollar funding in the US private placement market in a bid to refinance sterling bonds expiring in September. According to one agent, the transaction was twice subscribed despite 15 other borrowers also being in the market.

Carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has amended its existing €6.25bn revolving credit facility to stretch out the maturity to 2023, but loans bankers are concerned about the low volumes of business to look forward to.

China’s GreenTree Hospitality Group had to navigate a tough market this week to wrap up its US IPO as volatility spiked and its closest comparable tanked in the secondary market. To pull off its float, the issuer had no choice but to concede on price and size, writes Jonathan Breen.

Saudi Arabia has had to scale back banks grappling to get on its $16bn loan, which will be used to refinance a $10bn loan taken out in 2016.

European levfin investors are optimistic as the market heads into the Easter break, with buyers enjoying better pricing and terms even as issuers prepare to launch a fresh bout of speculative grade paper over the next few weeks.

Chinese hotel operator GreenTree Hospitality Group has sliced its $349.2m IPO of American Depositary Shares (ADS) to just over half the original size.

ICICI Securities has raised only Rp35.2bn ($543m) from its IPO, short of the original Rp40bn target, after tough pricing led to a poor turnout from local investors.

A jaw-dropping $20bn of investor orders poured in for Naspers’s overnight share sale in Hong Kong-listed Tencent Holdings, in a deal one banker summed up as "a huge success, and a landmark for all involved".

Baidu managed to raise $1.5bn from a dual-tranche bond on Thursday, but a choppy market backdrop meant the notes took a battering in the aftermarket.

India’s ICICI Securities covered nearly a third of its Rp40.2bn ($617.1m) IPO on the first day of bookbuilding, after the deal was launched with strong support from anchor investors.

Investors have begun to push back against ever tighter levels in the public sector dollar market, with a deeply sub-Libor trade this week failing to find full subscription. But there was not much concern ahead of next week’s Easter holidays, with some strong funding already raised in the first quarter and the new Federal Reserve chair’s first Federal Open Market Committee meeting passing this week without any great surprises.