Barclays

Oesterreichische Kontrollbank’s decision to mix up this week’s dollar supply with a three year benchmark reaped rewards on Thursday, as it recorded one of its largest ever allocations to central banks and one of its tightest ever US Treasury spreads. But some SSA bankers believe the dollar market might need a “breather” after a rampant start to the year.

The public sector dollar market on Wednesday showed that it had more than enough depth to cope with a pair of issuers bringing deals in the same maturity with just a basis point of difference in initial price thoughts, as both trades came in size and at tightened pricing. Another agency is set to dip into the demand on Thursday.

Following the success of Engie’s green hybrid bond the previous week, the French energy company’s Portuguese peer, EDP, launched its own version on Wednesday. While EDP’s deal did not achieve quite the same demand or tight pricing, the result was still a good one.

Three sterling deals hit the SSA market on Tuesday, bringing this year’s total volume to more than double last year’s and indicating that issuers and investors are yet to be put off by the confusion surrounding Brexit.

Two SSA borrowers will go head to head in the dollar market on Wednesday, bringing five year benchmarks with only 1bp difference in initial price thoughts.

Spain came to market on Tuesday, printing its traditional January 10 year euro benchmark and receiving an overwhelming level of demand.

Two US PP institutional investors headquartered in the US are considering lending to UK borrowers for the first time this year.

Leveraged finance markets in Europe are looking up, and bankers expect they may even see some deals priced before long.

Export Development Canada is set to become the fourth public sector borrower to issue a debut Sonia bond this year, after picking banks on Monday for a three year bond linked to the reference rate. Meanwhile, KfW will return for its second sterling benchmark of 2019, sticking with a five year maturity it issued in earlier in the month.

Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) took advantage of the new guidelines from India’s central bank to roll out a three year bond, opting for a maturity it was previously blocked from tapping.

Dollar SSA issuance picked up in earnest this week after a slower than usual start to the year, with a rich variety of borrowers printing deals, some in record size or with record books. Conditions are such that SSA bankers are confident supply will keep coming and demand stay high for the next few weeks — cheering news for one sovereign issuer looking to make a comeback in the currency.

A record start to the SSA sterling market came to a halt early this week, with borrowers avoiding prints as the UK Parliament delivered a historically large defeat to the government over its planned withdrawal agreement with the European Union. But once the big risk of the event was out the way, supply picked up — although with Brexit’s direction as uncertain as ever, further blocks to issuance are likely.