Banks

Israel rounded out an immensely successful opening week of 2019 for emerging market sovereign bond issues with its largest deal ever. The borrower raised €2.5bn of 10 and 30 year debt, pushing out its curve and printing at its tightest ever spread for a euro deal.

Triton Partners has provided one of the first significant tests of equity blocks market sentiment in 2019, with a €108m sale of shares in Befesa, the German metal recycling firm, that went public in Frankfurt in 2017.

Danske Bank is waiting until activist investor Bill Browder gives a press conference before deciding whether to proceed with the sale of a senior non-preferred bond. News of the conference derailed the deal on Wednesday, after final terms and a $3bn size had already been set.

Mizuho International said it had hired Christoph Seibel, head of EMEA corporate debt capital markets at RBC Capital Markets, to be chief executive of its EU operations, Mizuho Securities Europe.

CaixaBank was testing the strength of appetite for riskier debt instruments in the euro market on Thursday, bringing the lowest rated deal from bank so far this year.

African Export-Import Bank has closed a $500m five year term loan, it announced on Wednesday, partly guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of China. The presence of a mainly Asian syndicate has sparked discussion about the continually increasing Chinese capital flowing into Africa.

Yapi Kredi sold the first ever public additional tier one (AT1) bond from Turkey on Wednesday, which leads said would act as a benchmark for future issuers from the country despite the deal having been largely sold to the borrower’s shareholders.

French toll road operator APRR started its funding plans earlier than previous years when it sold a €500m nine year deal on Thursday. The company’s November deal was its only transaction in 2018, but even in busier years it has waited until May to get started.

Hong Kong’s Dah Sing Bank priced a popular $225m Basel III-compliant tier two deal this week, kicking off what is set to be a critical year for Asia’s bank capital market. Addison Gong reports.

China’s Road King Infrastructure nabbed $400m from a bond that was priced 50bp inside of initial guidance, on the back of the largest order book for an Asian deal recently.

The Republic of the Philippines threw open the door for emerging market sovereign issuance for 2019, raising $1.5bn in an outing that offered investors just a small concession. The country’s decision to attract new Chinese investors also paid off, writes Morgan Davis.

Malaysia’s equity capital market is set for a dramatic rebound after an exceptionally quiet 2018. It promises to offer those investors that have been underweight on the country for a long time plenty of attractive opportunities to put their money to work, writes Christie Ou.