Bank of America

Nordea will return to the Samurai market after an absence of a year this week, selling three and five year fixed rate notes. The lender may also add floating rate tranches, given enough investor demand.

Yanzhou Coal Mining (Yancoal) priced a perpetual non call two year hybrid on Thursday to bolster its balance sheet. As slowing economic growth in China fans concerns about the future prospects of the country’s coal industry, the issuer took a cautious approach to structuring and had to pay a hefty premium.

US corporate bond issuers had the whip hand this week, as US Treasury rates fell, issuance was in short supply and redemptions filled investors’ pockets with cash.

Pearson, the UK educational and financial publishing group, returned to the euro bond market on Monday after a long absence, and priced a bond right in line with the secondary spreads of its closest media peers. It was followed on Wednesday by a €350m three year deal from competitor Reed Elsevier (see globalcapital.com).

Westpac has priced the first dollar-denominated benchmark covered bond of 2014. On Wednesday the issuer opened books for a five year deal and a three year senior unsecured after mandating Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan.

Online retailer JD.com is setting its sights on a $1.7bn Nasdaq listing, having started taking orders for what is the largest flotation yet of a Chinese tech firm in the US. JD.com’s deal comes hot on the heels of the much publicised IPO application by rival Alibaba, but bankers on the trade have dismissed it as nothing more than a coincidence.

Encouraging Indian election exit poll results, a recent rating upgrade and rarity value all helped Bharti Airtel price a jumbo dual currency issue on Monday. Voracious investor appetite enabled the issuer to price flat to its existing curve, but ample leftover demand could see a replay of the hefty taps the issuer made last year, writes Isabella Zhong.

State Bank of India has closed its loan at $554.5m, managing to gather enough demand during syndication to increase its borrowing from the launch size of $390m.

China’s Tianhe Chemicals Group started talking to investors on May 12 about a Hong Kong IPO that could be worth around $1bn.

Noble Group, a supplier of agricultural and energy products, metals and minerals, has increased the final size of its loan to $2bn from the launch size of $1.35bn, with an impressive showing in syndication as some 40 banks joined.

French insurance firm Axa is looking to sell a rare perpetual non-call note, taking in a blowout book despite the heft of subordinated financials debt seen this week.

South Korean oil refiner GS Caltex will be meeting with investors over the next two weeks after for a proposed dollar issue.