Banks

BNP Paribas has filled the gap it had in Middle East DCM with an internal move of a banker working in sustainable capital markets.

Saudi Arabia is expected to print large tranches for its new 2029 and 2050 bond issue but will need to pay up for them in its first deal since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country's consulate in Istanbul last year.

Israel hit the market on Wednesday with a dual tranche euro deal, looking to test demand at the long end of the yield curve. The country’s reputation as a quality issuer appears to have carried it through.

Crédit Agricole paid a small premium to investors to launch a new short-dated floating rate note on Wednesday, adding to a flurry of senior trades from French banks at the start of the year.

Yapi Kredi, the Turkish bank, has set the pricing for its additional tier one bond though eschewing a “traditional bookbuild process”.

Analysts at JP Morgan believe that investors are underestimating the risk that banks will decide against calling their additional tier one instruments in the coming years, because of confusion around the reset rates that could apply past the scheduled end of Libor.

ABN Amro has promoted one of its senior equity syndicate bankers to a wider coverage role within investment banking.

Railway and toll road constructor Shandong Hi-Speed Group became the latest issuer to opt for a short tenor for its bond this week, in a bid to speed up the issuance process while keeping the yield low.

China YuHua Education Corp has launched bookbuilding for a sub-one year convertible bond that could raise up to HK$800m ($102.1m).

Hong Kong’s Dah Sing Bank priced a popular $225m Basel III-compliant tier two deal, starting the market on a strong note in a year where more than $24bn of capital bonds from Asia are coming up for call.

Zhenro Properties Group bagged $200m from a short-dated bond on Tuesday — being strategic with its choice of a 363-day tenor, while also finding an opportunistic issuance window on a day market sentiment was on a high.

China Water Affairs has closed a $300m loan launched last November, with 16 participants joining the deal in syndication.