Bank of America

Corporate bond bankers expect May to be a blockbuster month, as syndicate officials say that coronavirus pandemic fatigue has set in and the market has stopped worrying about it.

Signify, the Dutch lighting company, got roaring demand for its acquisition bridge takeout bond on Thursday — its maiden issue — as it tempted investors with an eye-catching initial spread.

Any impression that the European corporate bond market was returning to more measured levels of activity was zapped on Tuesday, when five new issues were launched that had to squeeze more than €35bn of bids into just €6.25bn of paper.

Diageo, the UK distiller, visited the booming dollar bond market for $2.5bn on Monday, as Europe’s syndicate bankers say they are getting more requests from companies to print debt on the other side of the Atlantic.

US companies Amphenol Technologies and Air Products and Chemicals have mandated banks for euro bond issues, as bankers expect Reverse Yankee issuance to rise after a spell of record-breaking volume in the dollar market.

April is set to be the second busiest month ever in the US corporate bond market (after March), as companies pile up funding to build up their financial resilience to Covid-19, despite continuing volatility and waves of bad news.

US banks this week reported stellar returns from trading and underwriting in the first quarter, even as the bottom line was hit by gigantic writedowns and reserves for credit losses, as the economic and financial disruption from the coronavirus crisis took its toll.

US banks ramped up reserves for credit losses, expanded credit lines and enjoyed bumper trading and debt underwriting volumes in the first quarter, according to results released on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The UK’s EasyJet is about to have $500m of funds released to it, after the budget airline sent a utilisation request to its banking group at the start of the week.

European corporates found a strong bond market on Monday after raising a record amount of bond funding last week, as the European Central Bank pours money into high grade debt.

Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical company, followed the example of Danaher by reopening bonds that priced in the last few weeks. It raised another €500m on Monday, pricing well inside where it priced the original bonds at the end of March.

The corporate bond market made a blazing start to Monday with deals for Repsol, Naturgy and LafargeHolcim on screens, as issuers cram what they can into a shortened week.