Bank of America

Two bankers have left Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s leveraged finance team in New York to join rival banks. Neither has yet been replaced.

Nationwide Building Society has thrown its hat into the ring for selling additional tier one debt, mandating lead arrangers to gauge interest in what would be the first such deal to be denominated in sterling and the first AT1 paper to be sold by a non-bank institution.

UK insurer RSA, which took on Stephen Hester as its chief executive earlier in the month, announced a £775m rights issue on Thursday as part of a plan to fix its weak performance and capital position.

Strong levels of demand on offer for supranational and agency paper in dollars this week, as investors have grown comfortable with US Treasury yields in the belly of the curve, will hearten the several issuers that are looking at bringing benchmarks in the currency in the coming weeks.

Russian borrowers undaunted by unrest in Ukraine are pushing on with issuance plans and largely being rewarded for their resolve. Gazprombank sold a four times subscribed transaction despite concerns about its Ukrainian exposure while Russian Railways printed a nine year euro bond only hours after Russian fighter jets were placed on high alert.

Goldman Sachs exploited a stable background in the investment grade market to print its biggest fixed rate deal of the year.

The dam opened again in the US corporate bond market this week and a torrent of issues poured out, as companies emerged from earnings blackouts and turned the week into the busiest for corporate high grade issuance so far this year.

The Republic of Indonesia has mandated banks for a series of investor meetings in Asia, Europe and the US, which began in Singapore on Wednesday.

There is talk of a stream of bond mandates from Peru, but bankers covering the country warn that LatAm DCM bankers seeking possible avenues of new supply should temper their excitement.

Icap, the UK interdealer broker and electronic trading group, returned to the euro bond market today to refinance its only previous issue, and proved that its involvement in the Libor rigging scandal last year was no bar to it obtaining a warm welcome from investors.

One of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s senior DCM bankers has resigned and will be leaving the industry, EuroWeek understands.

Mexican microfinance company Crédito Real has launched a tender offer for its outstanding bonds due 2015 just five months after postponing new issue plans.