Bank of America

GlobalCapital reveals today the winners of its Bond Awards 2021, including celebration of the achievement of top corporate banks and issuers — and Lifetime Achievement Awards for two of Europe’s most prominent corporate funding officials.

LinkDoc Technology, a cancer-focused medical data company, has filed paperwork for a $100m offering of American depository shares (ADS).

Aihuishou International, a marketplace for second-hand electronics, has kicked off a $243.5m IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

Stellantis, the entity formed by the merger of car makers Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, printed what the lead managers reckon was the longest maturity bond in euros from the sector in its ratings bracket, though the market was divided over whether peers could print similar deals.

Bank of America has set up an EMEA ESG strategic council chaired and led by three senior investment bankers, to intensify its effort to reduce its carbon footprint and manage its climate risks. BofA made a net zero commitment in February but has not yet set out its decarbonisation trajectory.

Europe’s high grade corporate issuers piled into the bond market during the run-up to this week’s European Central Bank meeting, with Vonovia and JDE Peet’s bringing standout jumbo trades.

Two issuers in Europe’s high grade corporate bond headed to the short part of their curves on Monday as inflation worries continue to rattle the market ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday.

Buyers piled into a debut sustainability-linked bond from Italian oil major Eni on Monday, despite there being some pushback from investors over higher polluting issuers coming to the ESG markets.

Mondi, a UK packaging and paper company, has signed a €750m revolving sustainability-linked facility, days after completing an acquisition of a Turkish packaging firm.

Supply was light in the US corporate bond market this week, partly because the May non-farm payrolls report is due on Friday. Participants are braced for volatility after the US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday it would start selling its holdings of corporate bonds, purchased as a stimulus measure at the height of the pandemic. It was left to Vodafone of the UK to reopen new issuance after the Memorial Day holiday.

AstraZeneca, the UK drug company, showed the eager demand for merger and acquisition financings this week when it achieved ultra-tight pricing on a $7bn bond issue to fund its acquisition of US biotech firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

French banks and foreign rivals are slugging it out in France’s corporate finance boom, where proximity to the government is an advantage, writes David Rothnie.