Banks

The Malaysian government has filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs for its alleged complicity in 1MDB and is seeking fines of over $3bn in a bid to recover assets from one of the world’s worst financial scandals.

Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust (CEReit) has wrapped up a well-oversubscribed rights issue, raising €224.1m to fund the acquisition of various properties across Europe.

Chinese property companies are pushing their fund-raising for 2018 to the bitter end – with sometimes surprising results. Cifi Holdings scored with a larger-than-expected $400m bond on Monday, while Redsun Properties Group sold a $200m tap.

Indian Oil Corp is in the market with a $1.3bn financing, in yet another sign the country’s famously stingy borrowers are allowing pricing to inch up.

Wuhan Financial Holdings Group Co made its dollar market debut on Monday, raising $142m from a three year club-style deal.

SSA euro issuance outstripped dollars this year, thanks to strong conditions in the first half and the vagaries of the basis swap. But the end of eurozone quantitative easing and political strife made it a trickier place later in 2018 — and those elements are unlikely to disappear in 2019.

Public sector borrowers are confident going into the euro bond market next year, with reinvestments from maturing bonds held by the European Central Bank likely to cap any spread widening from the end of quantitative easing. But political threats — from populists polling well ahead of European Parliament elections in May, Brexit probably in March and the Italian government’s stand-off with the European Commission over its budget plans — are likely to bring volatility, meaning timing will perhaps be more important than in 2018. GlobalCapital brought together European SSAs, investors and investment bankers to discuss what 2019 holds for the euro market — as well as the SRI sector and new technology.

The Netherlands will look to issue around €4bn-€6bn with a maturity of at least 15 years in its debut green bond, which will be sold through a Dutch Direct Auction in the second quarter of 2019.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is planning to wait until next year to meet a European Commission requirement to issue a tier two bond, beyond the original deadline.

Chemical and consumer goods firm Henkel has signed a €1.5bn sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, with leads claiming the deal is the first of its kind in Germany.

The dollar SSA market at the end of 2018 was in stark contrast to euros, despite the latter outstripping it in volume over the year. Even uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s rate path in 2019 seems unlikely to shake the fortitude of the currency as a funding source for SSAs. But finding windows could become trickier as the Fed pulls liquidity amid global trade wars and rising populism.

The bond market is well ahead of schedule in its adoption of potential Libor replacements, with several issuers having printed notes linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (Sofr) in the dollar market, and to the Sterling Overnight Index Average (Sonia) in sterling. Borrowers are setting strong standards for other participants to take up, as well as adjusting structures to ensure the eventual market is optimal. That does not mean the job is finished, of course. GlobalCapital spoke to some of the pioneers in the Sonia and Sofr markets about their work so far — and the challenges ahead.