Bank of America

The euro market was all but deserted this week, but one borrower broke the silence, hitting screens for a socially responsible investment bond on Tuesday.

Anheuser-Busch InBev timed a $10bn multi-trancher to perfection this week as it jumped into the market to extend maturities ahead of the Federal Reserve’s rate interest rate hike.

Spanish utility Iberdrola had significant success with its debut green hybrid bond in November when it received €3.2bn of orders. However, its second such bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts when it was issued this week.

Glencore, the Swiss-based mining and commodities group, issued a $500m seven year equity-neutral convertible bond on Tuesday that achieved terms described as very aggressive. It attracted around 100 investors, including a couple of sovereign wealth funds.

Hong Kong stole the show for overnight share sales in Asia this week as three transactions worth a total of $1.3bn were priced — before a monster $10.6bn sell-down in Tencent Holdings launched as GlobalCapital Asia went to press on Thursday.

After wrapping up investor meetings on Monday, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has opened books on a new five year dollar deal, offering around 30bp premium in order to attract investors in a "shakier market.”

Global internet and entertainment group Naspers launched a block sale of Tencent Holdings shares on Thursday, looking to raise $10.6bn, according to a term sheet seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Asia’s dollar bond issuers were back in the market on Thursday after taking a pause during the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week.

The Nordic Investment Bank became the second borrower this week to access the two year part of the curve, taking advantage of a widening in swap spreads.

Details have emerged on £1.5bn of underwritten loans for the UK’s Phoenix Group, as the life assurance fund consolidator moves closer to its £3.24bn cash and shares purchase of Standard Life Aberdeen’s insurance arm.

2018 has proven a difficult year for the IG corporate bond market so far. Instead of the smooth waters of 2017, conditions have been more choppy and issuers and their syndicates have had to navigate a more careful path to market and often paying more to insulate investors from secondary market volatility. However, there are likely to be more difficult conditions ahead with fewer support mechanisms available.

GlobalCapital revealed the winners of its Equity Capital Markets Awards 2017 at our third annual Awards Dinner in London on March 20. CEOs and CFOs were present to collect Awards for landmark deals such as the UniCredit and Santander rights issues and the IPOs of Allied Irish Banks and Pirelli.