Banks

A small deal size and investment grade ratings worked in GS Caltex Corp’s favour on Monday, allowing the South Korean oil refiner to price a tight $300m bond.

World Bank mandated banks on Monday to lead its first dollar benchmark transaction of its 2020/21 financial year, which could be priced tighter versus mid-swaps than any other five year dollar trade since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

KfW will lead the charge in the euro public sector bond market on Tuesday with a €3bn green bond that will match its biggest ever deal in the format. Eurofima and the State of Berlin are also preparing to bring bonds to the euro market.

Mozambique LNG, Africa’s largest project financing investment to date, has secured roughly $15bn of funding from a range of international lenders and credit agencies in one of the few sparks of emerging market loan activity this year. The deal shows there is still appetite for “overlooked” and lower-rated emerging market credits, bankers say.

The MTN market expects a busy summer in Asia as investors look to make up for time lost to the coronavirus pandemic at the start of the year. In Europe, things are starting to slow down, however, there are signs that the credit market could open up over the coming weeks.

Investindustrial, the European private equity firm, has signed a €600m subscription credit facility linked to environmental, social and governance metrics, as sustainability-conscious finance makes further inroads into the private equity market.

Citi has appointed Cristina Paviglianiti and Luca Sabbatini to run markets and securities services in Italy, adding to a series of recent appointments across its European investment bank.

NordLB has promoted two bankers to its FIG coverage and SSA teams, and plans to make further external hires soon.

DCM officials are busy preparing their summer deal pipelines, with banks expected to take advantage of a strong technical bid in the market following their second quarter earnings.

Analysts think Intesa Sanpaolo will succeed in winning over UBI Banca’s shareholders after sweetening the terms of its takeover bid. The merger deal is seen as an important test case for consolidation in the Italian banking sector.

India’s Yes Bank ended its Rp150.2bn ($2bn) share sale without enough demand to cover the deal, after a low turnout from individual investors.

Bonds from Indian corporations were among the worst performing investment grade deals in Asia last week. The primary market also suffered, with one deal cancelled and another put on hold.