Banks

The three major rating agencies have upgraded UBI’s credit rating, to be in line with Intesa Sanpaolo’s as the latter's takeover of the former concludes. Market participants are expecting UBI’s covered bond spreads to tighten as a result.

A small group of Japanese banks have signed a syndicated facility that will support the funding of a solar power plant in Qatar, which is jointly owned by a consortium of Japanese, French and Qatari firms.

Banks in the EU have spent the last four years changing the terms and conditions of new issues to create a sense of certainty over how English law bonds will be treated after Brexit.

Germany’s CureVac has gone public on the Nasdaq, joining the army of biotech companies that have tapped the equity capital markets for cash during the pandemic, despite growing concern of a brewing dot-com style bubble.

Indonesian tanker company Soechi Lines, which is facing a big hit to its shipyard operation, is in discussions with banks for a refinancing loan.

Spanish telecommunications infrastructure company Cellnex has finished its €4bn rights issue to fund further M&A opportunities, with an extremely high oversubscription.

Yuexiu Transport Infrastructure, a Hong Kong-listed red Panda issuer, returned to the renminbi market this week for a small Rmb500m ($72m) bond. The issuer wrapped up the deal after extending the bookbuilding period by half a day.

The Kingdom of Thailand pulled off a novel sustainability bond in the domestic debt market on Thursday, hitting the upper end of its Bt30bn ($965m) size target and getting away with tight pricing.

Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group Co added a dash of variety to bond supply from China’s local government financing vehicles, by selling a $300m dual-tranche deal that combined a senior unsecured portion with an unsubordinated perpetual.

Cigarette packaging producer Amvig Holdings has closed its HK$1.35bn ($174m) loan with seven lenders.

The coronavirus crisis has reshaped many aspects of finance, but not the line-up of top investment banks. It does appear to have pressed some firms into sharp decisions, though.

A sombre set of second quarter earnings has done little to frighten credit investors away from European banks this month. Fund managers believe the sector is well capitalised enough to withstand any reasonable shock from Covid-19, putting subordinated bonds in an ideal position to rally into the end of the year, writes Tyler Davies.