Bank of America

Apax made on Tuesday night its first selldown of stock in Auto Trader, the UK car sales website, since floating the business last March. As had been expected after the IPO was increased, Apax was able to sell virtually its whole remaining stake in one go.

The SSA market has seen a steady stream of activity across the euro and dollar markets this week. The European Stability Mechanism priced the week’s biggest deal on Tuesday, printing €4bn in 10 and 40 year tenors. Meanwhile African Development Bank led the charge in dollars, preparing to print a $1bn no-grow in its first benchmark deal of the year.

The European Stability Mechanism raised €4bn on Tuesday with a dual tranche deal at the long end of the curve, printing a 10 year bond through mid-swaps while hitting €1bn on a tap of a 40 year bond.

Vodafone once again showed its capacity to surprise the capital markets on Monday, issuing €6bn of bonds in four tranches, only two working days after a £2.9bn convertible bond.

The European Stability Mechanism has picked banks to sell a 10 year benchmark and a tap of its €1bn December 2055 bonds, amid a strong window for duration plays in euros, said bankers.

South African Investec is refinancing a $335m credit facility and is increasing the size of the deal to $400m.

Tata Steel has received a new commitment at the senior level for its $1.5bn refinancing, with banks yet to join in general syndication.

Vodafone wasted no time catching its breath after closing books on Thursday's £2.9bn convertible bond, as it announced on Friday its intention to raise up to €3bn of conventional bonds as early as Monday.

Apple's $12bn nine-tranche bond this week has not only kick-started a US corporate bond market that had been drained by weeks of volatility, but also signalled the beginning of a wave of supply from US issuers that is expected to hit European shores.

A healthy pair of benchmarks this week and strong conditions mean the euro market is wide open for a pair of supranationals to bring planned deals next week.

KfW this week printed its widest five year KfW dollar benchmark since 2009 as negative swap spreads took their toll on pricing despite an improving macroeconomic backdrop.

US biotechnology company Amgen made its dash into primary corporate bond markets on Thursday with a dual tranche deal that took €2bn out of the market.