Bank of America

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever has become known in the corporate bond markets for its multiple tranche deals. Its latest deal is its third such trade in the last three years, and investors showed they still have plenty of appetite for the name, helping the company print its largest ever deal, despite market turmoil in the US.

Global stock markets have suffered from volatility in recent trading sessions but European primary leveraged finance markets had already slowed down as investor pressure grew around a €1.4bn deal for storage firm Algeco Scotsman and the worrying performance of UK retailer New Look.

Aster DM Healthcare is finally set to launch its Rp9.8bn ($152.7m) IPO, having once again scaled back the deal size and changed the syndicate.

GlobalCapital revealed the winners of its 2017 Loan Awards at its annual Loans and Leveraged Finance Awards Dinner at Gibson Hall in London on February 7. The full results are below: GlobalCapital congratulates all the winners and nominees.

Qatar National Bank has signed a $3.5bn loan with 21 international banks, showing that banks' jitters about supporting Qatari entities in the wake of the dispute between the sultanate and six other Arab states have partly been assuaged.

A buoyant January in equities markets has been followed by a difficult start to February, with the first IPOs out of a full pipeline seeing some issues in marketing just as stock markets tumble across the globe.

Informa, the UK media group, will initially pay 85bp over Libor for the acquisition debt facility due to partly finance its £3.9bn ($5.4bn) purchase of events company UBM. The spread will rise to a maximum of 225bp, depending on when the debt is repaid.

A group of five banks has agreed to underwrite UK garages company EG Group’s $2.15bn purchase of US firm Kroger’s convenience store business, after the equity market wobbles this week failed to put a dent in the year’s M&A extravaganza.

The plunge in global stock prices has only caused the European investment grade corporate bond market to close for one day. On Wednesday, two pharmaceutical companies from different ends of the the ratings spectrum brought multi-tranche deals which attracted more than €9.5bn of combined demand.

India’s capital markets regulator has given ICICI Securities the greenlight to hold an IPO, which is expected to raise at least Rp30bn ($467m).

Public sector borrowers are reaping the benefits of investors looking to “weather the storm” of wider market volatility, said bankers, as investors poured cash into short dated dollar issues this week. Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten and Sweden are set to be the next issuers to benefit, after mandating for three year trades on Tuesday.

The UK Debt Management Office drew praise on Tuesday as it priced the final syndication of its 2017-18 financial year at the tight end of a tiny guidance range. Bankers said that result, coupled with the behaviour of the UK’s outstanding curve over the course of the deal, was particularly impressive given a turbulent backdrop in the wider financial markets.