Bank of America

Bank of America Merrill Lynch came up with the perfect riposte following a week of regulatory scrutiny as it printed the biggest deal of the year from a financial borrower.

Banco Santander Totta this week returned to the covered bond market after a four year absence, choosing a three year maturity and a spread that ensured it was an easy choice for risk-averse and yield-hungry investors alike. The €1bn deal is likely to replace central bank funding.

Kimberly-Clark de Mexico is to roadshow in the US and Europe for a 144A/RegS dollar bond, which would be its first international benchmark issue.

Singapore’s sovereign investment arm, Temasek Holdings, has bought a 24.95% stake in AS Watson Holdings, the retail division of Hutchinson Whampoa, for HK$44bn ($5.7bn), pushing plans for a Hong Kong IPO off the table.

Noble Group, a supplier of agricultural and energy products, metals and minerals, hit the market on March 24 with a $1.35bn 364-day revolving loan facility, led by an 18-member arranging group.

Capital raising by Japanese banks has burst into life over the past week as the first two lenders to raise Basel III debt made their tier two debuts. And thanks to Japan's favourable point of non-viability (PONV) regime, the pair managed to secure blink-and-you’ll-miss-it premiums over legacy bonds.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian-US brewing company, today joined the spate of large companies issuing multi-tranche deals into the present super-hot euro corporate bond market. Its deal was marked by two current trends: the popularity of floating rate notes and of 12 year bonds.

The world’s largest pork processor WH Group, or formerly known as Shuanghui International, now has a record 28 banks working on its jumbo $5bn-$6bn IPO, according to bankers on the transaction.

Indonesian conglomerate CT Corp signed its $1.275bn fundraising on Friday, March 20, a deal that saw a group of 19 banks piling in during syndication.

Beijing based iKang Healthcare Group opened books for its $153m Nasdaq listing on Wednesday offering investors exposure to one of the fastest growing industries in China.

Volkswagen Financial Services jumped into the euro bond market on Tuesday for a big deal, raising €1.5bn in a sale that demonstrated its pragmatic approach to pricing and the stability of demand for Volkswagen’s paper.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is expected to miss out on one of the key leveraged finance deals of this year, after being tipped as one of the nine underwriting banks, GlobalCapital understands.