Banks

Malaysian poultry producer Leong Hup International has started early stage engagement with the buy-side and is looking for cornerstone investors for its IPO, according to a source close to the deal.

The dollar market for public sector borrowers begins in earnest on Wednesday with a pair of borrowers out with benchmarks and bankers confident the deals will go well thanks to a demand/supply imbalance. The trades follow a small floater tap from a supranational on Monday that was the first syndicated deal of the year in the currency.

Lloyds Bank issued a £750m three year Sonia linked covered bond on Monday, taking advantage of the steepness of the sterling curve to cut the funding cost. But having issued almost £4bn ($5.1bn) in the last 12 months, demand was much less compelling than Nationwide’s recent Sonia debut.

FMS Wertmanagement was quick to execute its inaugural Sonia-linked bond on Monday amid strong sterling floater demand. That hunger is showing no signs of abating, with International Finance Corporation looking to follow with its own debut Sonia bond on Tuesday.

The European Financial Stability Facility rebooted the euro public sector market on Monday with an intraday execution ahead of what SSA bankers expect to be a busy week for supply. Belgium and KfW are already on screens for benchmark trades in the 10 year part of the curve.

DNB Boligkreditt attracted a comfortably oversubscribed order book for its €1.5bn seven year covered bond on Monday, illustrating the market’s sweet-spots for tenor, name and jurisdiction.

Eli Lilly, the US pharmaceuticals company, has agreed to buy Loxo Oncology for around $8bn, as big ticket consolidation in the drug sector continues apace.

Crédit Agricole managed to reach considerable size expectations and raise €1.5bn of covered bond funding in the challenging 10 year tenor on Monday. Although a tighter price might have been possible on Friday, the issuer’s size ambitions would probably have been thwarted.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel and Société Générale came out on Monday with euro-denominated deals in the safest part of the unsecured capital stack, as issuers adjust to a pessimistic mood at the start of 2019.

ING Groep was set to raise €1bn of senior notes for the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) on Monday, showing for the first time in 2019 what kind of a premium issuers may have to pay to complete new unsecured deals in euros.

The corporate bond market saw its second day of issuance in the new year on Monday when French multi-utility Veolia and Belgian electricity grid operator Elia sold new deals.

Danske Bank has hired DNB Markets’ JoJo Thirasilpa as a managing director in leveraged finance.