Banks

British American Tobacco is considering switching its existing revolving credit facility from Libor to Sonia, following Royal Dutch Shell’s trail-blazing Sofr-linked syndicated loan last year. The move would demonstrate a more galvanised move away from Libor in the loan market.

SBI Cards and Payment Services was riding high on Thursday after a rush of institutional investor demand pushed its billion-dollar IPO through a coronavirus-driven slump in local and global markets this week. Jonathan Breen reports.

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China Hongqiao Group, China Water Affairs Group and Luxshare Precision has returned to the offshore loan market seeking a total of $800m.

Volkswagen Finance (China), wholly owned by Volkswagen Financial Services AG, will come to the onshore securitization market for a Rmb5.97bn ($860m) transaction on March 12.

Mexico’s state-owned electric company Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) turned to Taiwan’s bond market this week to sell a dollar bond — its latest foray into the Formosa bond market.

Chinese property developer Jingrui Holdings made its first dollar outing of 2020 on Wednesday, raising $180m from the bond.

Sinic Holdings (Group) Co and JY Grandmark Holdings made their debuts in the dollar bond market on Wednesday. Both issuers opted to use a 364-day tenor to get the deals done.

Cadent Gas launched what by some counts is only the second transition bond on Wednesday and achieved a stellar reception in the market. The €500m no-grow bond was priced without a new issue concession and tightened sharply on the break, according to a banker on the deal.

The World Bank has surprised onlookers with a five year benchmark bond, printed into the teeth of the volatility caused by Covid-19 and an emergency rate cut from the Federal Reserve. The successful deal from the supranational has emboldened an agency to follow suit, with others expected to follow.

Schneider Electric, the French electrical equipment company, and Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, zipped through the open window for corporate bond issuance on Wednesday, as bankers say coronavirus volatility has made this a market for opportunists.

HSBC is moving its securities services business into global markets to create a new unit. Allegra Berman and Richard Godfrey, co-heads of securities services, will gain new responsibilities as part of the change.