Barclays

When will the supply of Chinese property bonds end? Bankers detected hints of indigestion after a rush of deals last week, but that does not appear to have slowed down the mass of supply. Five more companies turned to dollar bond investors on Monday.

The Coca-Cola Company has reopened the European corporate bond market this week with a €3.5bn four-tranche offering to refinance euro-denominated debt due later this year. The company hit screens despite a difficult earnings update last week that caused the biggest daily drop in its stock in a decade.

Sterling issuance may be slowing down after its record start to the year, but investor demand shows no signs of cooling — as KfW proved with a tap on Monday that was nearly double its original target size. Any “bank treasury friendly” borrowers should find healthy demand if they follow in the currency, said bankers.

The European Stability Mechanism on Monday took care of all its first quarter funding needs in one fell swoop, drawing a heavily oversubscribed book with high Asian demand that allowed 2bp of price tightening. On-looking SSA bankers said the deal was a good sign for — and likely gave confidence to — Spain, which is bringing its second syndicated benchmark of the year on Tuesday.

Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA) looks set to have the dollar market to itself on Tuesday with its first benchmark of the year, and is foregoing the price discovery process.

Sir Gerry Grimstone is vacating his position as chair of Barclays’ non-ringfenced bank at the end of the month, to be replaced by incoming group chair Nigel Higgins.

Barclays’ corporate and investment bank performed strongly relative to peers in the last quarter of 2018, helping management make the case for a strong CIB franchise against investor Edward Bramson, who wants it to downscale this part of the group. Although analysts reckon the argument will continue, Aviva Investors announced it would be siding against the activist, after the results were released on Thursday.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development smashed its newly minted size record in sterling with its sophomore effort using the Sonia benchmark.

L-Bank will go on the road to promote the first ever Reg S dollar benchmark priced over the dollar risk free rate Sofr.

UK Commercial Property Reit (UKCM) has added to its revolving credit facilities and reduced its term loans, shaving 10bp off its cost of funding, as lenders say sterling loans are viable despite Brexit uncertainty.

Chinese high yield borrowers have come to the market in droves this week. That continued on Wednesday, when three deals raised a total of $1.275bn.

Sweden has joined the throng of SSA borrowers making up for the dollar market's weak start to the year, bringing its first deal in the currency for over a year. It follows a trio of new issues that achieved tight spreads.