Banks

A trio of UK companies drew down on their revolving credit facilities this week, as firms in the country build up their cash piles despite an unprecedented financial support package from the government.

Corporate borrowers are pumping out new bonds this week and on Thursday it was the turn of some of those worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, as investors have felt emboldened enough to look further down the credit curve each day this week. Aeroports de Paris is on screens, as investors credited central bank intervention with bolstering the market.

An Ke Technology Co, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Ping An Group, is in the market seeking a $300m three year loan.

Chinese property developer Radiance Holdings (Group) Co is getting ready to speak to potential investors for its Hong Kong IPO.

European issuers have got their wish thanks to deals from European Investment Bank at three years and a five year from KfW on Wednesday.

The Republic of Austria and the African Development Bank announced new bond transactions on Wednesday which will be used to provide emergency financing in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Republic of Slovenia navigated a much changed euro new issue market on Tuesday, executing a three year bond and tap that required unconventional pricing tactics.

New senior bank bonds are proving attractive to investors at about 40bp-50bp or more over secondary levels, with UK issuers Lloyds and HSBC joining US peers in returning to the new issue market this week.

Bank of Nova Scotia issued its first dollar covered bond benchmark since 2016 on Wednesday. The deal follows a series of retained Canadian dollar covered bonds that were pledged to the Bank of Canada after it recently broadened repo eligibility to include the asset class.

The Eurogroup made no progress towards creating a common EU debt instrument on Tuesday night, but member states will be able to fund their responses to the coronavirus crisis through a new credit line with the European Stability Mechanism.

JP Morgan Chase has sold £59m of shares in BT Group, the UK telecommunications company, on behalf of former holders of BT’s American Depositary Receipts.

Riskier high grade corporate names saw more than €45bn of combined demand for new bonds on Wednesday. Danaher, Carrefour, Bertelsmann, Philips and Heineken were all in the market following a batch of deals from higher rated names a day earlier encourages borrowers to pile in.