Bank of America

South Korea's KEB Hana Bank is set to meet investors next week ahead of its first foray into the dollar bond market since its merger.

As news of the UK and US investigation into SSA market trading practices broke, the SSA market split over whether the banks at the heart of the probe would lose primary business.

In the wake of the news that four traders at different banks were under investigation by US and UK authorities over possible sharing of client flow information, senior bankers were quick to blame the structures of the market, and pressure from issuers focused on turnover statistics, for making it possible.

Supranational and agency borrowers have long anticipated a wave of demand from American investors as US government sponsored enterprise issuance dwindles. But this week there were concrete signs that the dollar bond market has shaken off the problems that prevented the big switch. Craig McGlashan reports.

Just as European equity capital sales made a prompt start to the year on Tuesday, the first viable window available, with the €1bn NN Group block trade, the equity-linked market also wasted no time. Safran, the French aerospace and defence company, issued a €650m convertible at what a banker claimed was a record low yield.

The start to 2016’s equity capital markets business in Europe has been tricky, but the action on Tuesday showed that high quality deals can get done very well, provided they come in a suitable window.

Investigators are finally baring their teeth at the bond markets, after dozens of other post-crisis scandals, with a probe into the supranational and agency market that has engulfed four banks.

European high yield specialists hope the continent's market can repeat in 2016 its sharp outperformance compared with the US market last year — but history suggests that the two markets tend not to diverge for long.

A healthy euro benchmark pipeline is building for next week, with one supranational looking to print and a pair of sovereigns believed to be considering deals, after a week that didn’t finish as strongly as it started for core issuers.

Investors on Thursday pounced on Ireland's recovery story to lap up €3bn worth of 10 year bonds from the Celtic Tiger.

EasyJet, the UK budget airline, has mandated three banks for its first ever bond issue, and will run a roadshow next week.

National Australia Bank packed $3.5bn of funding into a multi-tranche deal on Wednesday, taking advantage of strong demand and a heightened risk appetite among US investors.