Bank of America

Europe’s IPO market took a couple of knocks this week when one flotation was pulled and another traded sharply down on its debut, partly because investor sentiment has cooled. But there was still enough vigour in the market to ensure a successful conclusion to the €3bn re-privatisation of Allied Irish Banks (AIB), write John Loh and Jon Hay.

British Telecommunications and Coentreprise de Transport d’Electricité launched triple tranche bond deals on Tuesday, with demand skewed towards the longer tranches.

Though this week was expected to be something of a write-off for SSA issuance, thanks to Euromoney’s Global Borrowers & Bond Investors forum, a pair of issuers pulled off well-received transactions.

Compass Group, the UK food service company, offered investors a choice of main courses on Monday, combining a €750m seven year bond with a £300m 12 year. Demand was plentiful for both and the new issue premiums were minimal.

Danaher Corp, the US healthcare technology group, issued a €850m dual tranche bond on Monday and the latest reverse Yankee issuer found strong demand for both tranches, resulting in minimal new issue concessions.

Reckitt Benckiser racked up $16bn in orders as it printed a four tranche bond to fund its purchase of US baby food maker Mead Johnson in an otherwise subdued week for corporate issuers in the US.

South Africa-based media group Naspers is looking to add to what has been the busiest month for African issuance since July 2014 but an oil-related sell-off this week suggests that the company may have missed the golden window.

Chile re-opened its domestic 2021s and 2035s on Wednesday as it looks to attract more international investors into its peso-denominated bonds.

Allied Irish Banks again tightened guidance on its London and Dublin IPO this evening, moving the lower and upper limits to €4.30 to €4.50 a share.

French agency Société de Financement Local (SFiL) raised $1bn with its first ever dollar bond on Wednesday, while the German State of North Rhein-Westphalia pushed out its curve to 2048.

Speaking at Euromoney’s Global Borrowers conference on Tuesday, a panel of bank issuers said that investors had come to grips with the transformation of the senior asset class for the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). The future of subordinated debt, meanwhile, remains in flux.

India’s Bank of Baroda met investors this week on a non-deal roadshow in Europe and Asia.