Bank of America

Bayer, the German life sciences company, has clinched an agreement with the board of Monsanto to buy the US company for an enterprise value of $66bn, to be financed with one of the largest rights issues in history.

National Grid Gas followed its £3bn Tuesday visit to the sterling market with a €750m eight year bond that completes its primary bond market financing ahead of its 2017 sale.

On Wednesday, Bayer said that five banks have agreed to provide the hefty bridge loan for its $66bn acquisition of US agrochemicals specialist, Monsanto. But the $57bn deal is not yet being syndicated, according to one of Bayer’s relationship banks.

US coatings maker Axalta on Tuesday sold a €450m bond to redeem its 2021 euro notes, a month after it redeemed its 2021 dollars, cutting its coupon by 200bp.

A jumbo bond intended to refinance the debt of merged companies Quintiles and IMS on Wednesday added to a deluge of high yield issuance, with the market seeing €4bn of new bonds by Thursday.

State Bank of India launched the first-ever offshore Basel III compliant additional tier one (AT1) bank capital offering from an Indian name on Wednesday, a deal market participants expect to set the pricing benchmark for future Indian lenders from this asset class.

China’s Industrial Bank took advantage of a quiet primary market on Tuesday, bagging $1bn from a dual trancher. Given the softer tone this week, the issuer went out with realistic expectations on pricing, which was key to the transaction’s success, according to bankers.

Italian oil and gas company Eni jostled with four other issuers on one of the European corporate bond market's busiest days of the year as it issued a dual tranche offering on Tuesday.

The prospect of the first international bank capital trade from India is closer with State Bank of India on the road this week for a dollar-denominated additional tier one. While it has picked a good window, it needs to get the pricing right or risk derailing the rest of the market.

Chinese healthcare and education names are flocking towards Hong Kong for IPOs, with the most recent filings coming from New Century Healthcare Holding Co and China Yuhua Education Corp.

Industrial Bank Co has thrown open books for a dual-tranche dollar offering following a series of fixed income investor meetings at the start of the month.

Postal Savings Bank of China has started taking orders for a Hong Kong IPO that could be worth HK$62.7bn ($8.1bn). Set to be the world’s largest float in two years, the deal is going to add about $130m in fees to the underwriters’ coffers.