Banks

A year on from selling its first green hybrid bond, French energy company Engie returned to sell another with a slightly longer call date. Demand for the product has remained strong, but the difference in coupons showed how pricing has changed despite the borrower paying virtually no premium over the company’s secondary bonds.

Greenland Holding Group has taken the first step towards refinancing its 2019 maturities, pricing a $300m bond in a busy period for Chinese real estate issuers.

Following a tough year for senior debt valuations in 2018, bank debt investors are becoming increasingly interested in taking up positions in this part of the capital structure.

Junson Development International offloaded a 2.52% stake in property company Longfor Group on Wednesday, raking in HK$3.4bn ($434.2m).

Philippine supermarket chain Puregold Price Club raised Ps4.69bn ($90m) from a top-up placement on Wednesday.

China Yuanfang Group filed a draft IPO prospectus in Hong Kong on Wednesday, adding to a growing list of Mainland education firms hoping to float in the city.

The super-hot dollar bond market is set to welcome a pair of SSAs on Thursday — including a rare name in the currency — after a mid-week lull in issuance.

BNP Paribas has hired numerous bankers to bolster its corporate and institutional banking presence in the Nordic countries, including senior bankers in equity and derivatives roles.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten hit screens for its first euro benchmark of the year on Wednesday. The deal will be closely watched by the market as an important reference for what the environment looks like for the smaller euro public sector borrowers in 2019.

Export Development Canada will head out for a roadshow next month for its first benchmark in euros, taking advantage of the attractive market conditions for issuing in the currency for dollar funders. More deals could follow from debut and rare issuers in euros, with several borrowers looking “closely” at the cross-currency basis swap, according to bankers.

LBBW this week issued a long three year public sector Pfandbrief at the tightest spread of the year, showing just how receptive investors are to supply, particularly for strong names in short tenors.

BNP Paribas went to sterling and euros on Wednesday to print a senior non-preferred bond. The French bank was heavily subscribed for both, allowing it to tick off another €3.38bn from its €14bn funding plan in the asset class for the year.