Banks

Banco Santander has followed Belfius Bank in launching a very successful new seven year bond this week, as bank treasury accounts lend their support to low yielding preferred senior paper.

Chinese company Alibaba Group Holding made its long-awaited return to the debt market this week, even as the country’s regulators turned up the heat on the e-commerce giant.

A Dutch shell company is vying to become the first European special purpose acquisition company (Spac) to list this year.

Indian Railway Finance Corp (IRFC) sold its first bond since its IPO this week, raising $750m.

Thailand’s PTT Oil and Retail Business scooped up Bt54bn ($1.79bn) this week from the country’s largest IPO in a year. The deal was a hit with both domestic and foreign investors — but in a somewhat unusual twist, the issuer cut the entire international public book during allocation. Jonathan Breen reports.

Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina raised $1.9bn from a two-tranche deal on Wednesday.

Cloopen Group Holding, a cloud-based communications provider, launched its New York Stock Exchange IPO on Wednesday night.

Indian renewable energy company Continuum Energy Levanter made its debut in the dollar bond market this week, more than three years after pulling its initial attempt. However, it had to offer investors incentives to seal the $561m deal, writes Morgan Davis.

A $390m loan backing CVC Capital Partners’ acquisition of Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Green Towers (IGT) was abruptly put on hold this week after political turmoil rocked the country following a military coup. Pan Yue reports.

A handful of Chinese companies managed to hit the bond market on Wednesday for new deals, ahead of not just the upcoming Chinese New Year break but also the jumbo outing launched by Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday.

The International Development Agency sold a sterling benchmark on Wednesday, raising £1bn with its second benchmark in the currency.

Whitbread, the UK hotel and pub company, enjoyed roaring demand for its debut green bond on Wednesday, as it managed to convince investors that it can plan for life after lockdowns.