Barclays

The coronavirus crisis has made it difficult for banks to know how much wholesale funding they will need in the coming years. But when a window opened in the primary market this week, issuers showed that they are still focused on trying to build up their levels of total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC), write Tyler Davies, David Freitas and Bill Thornhill.

The volume of new euro senior debt sold by banks has hit €10bn this week, following deals from Barclays, Credit Suisse and NatWest Markets on Thursday. Yield and spread levels remain high, but market participants have been delighted to see investors throwing their confidence behind new transactions in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

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.

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.

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.

Diageo, the UK distiller and brewer, poured a triple tranche trade into Tuesday's busy primary corporate bond market, as syndicate bankers said the high grade companies on screen were the some of the best names to raise spirits.

BBC Commercial Holdings, a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that produces and sells content to other broadcasters across the world, has decided to delay a £170m debt refinancing in the US private placement market, according to market sources, as bankers struggle to cope with price discovery.

Barclays has named Carrie Chen as vice chairman of Greater China banking and Sung-Min Chung as head of technology in banking for Asia Pacific.

The Bank of England said on Friday morning that UK banks should not treat coronavirus-impacted exposures as impaired assets under IFRS 9 accounting standards, as it unveiled new guidance around the impact of the pandemic.

Germany's Covestro and the UK's 3i have both signed new revolving credit facilities with terms that were agreed before the Covid-19 pandemic sent markets plunging, but lenders said that new deals will have far higher margins.

UK manufacturer Dyson is looking for at least £250m of debt, according to several market sources, in a private placement set to close in the middle of the pandemic that has largely shut public markets in Europe and the US.