Barclays

The corporate bond market saw its second day of issuance in the new year on Monday when French multi-utility Veolia and Belgian electricity grid operator Elia sold new deals.

The Slovenian government is out with a 10 year euro bond issue on Monday, which will be priced later today. Bankers away from the deal say the highly rated issuer is a good soft test of investor appetite for CEEMEA debt.

All of the top five DCM banks by revenue are US houses — for the third year running — though the resurgent Barclays cracked the top five by volume this year, according to full year 2018 figures from Dealogic.

Emerging market issuers are hesitant to rush back into the market in the new year. Most are waiting on the sidelines until the tone becomes more settled and investor desks are fully staffed.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

The European Investment Bank and KfW comfortably raised a combined £2.25bn on Thursday after receiving whopping investor demand for benchmark trades. This Friday is set to add to the sterling glut, with deals from the Asian Development Bank, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten and Swedish Export Credit Corporation.

Israel has opened the CEEMEA primary bond market for the year, mandating three banks for a euro denominated 10 year and/or long dated benchmark Reg S note.

Barclays has asserted its credentials as Europe’s top investment bank with market share gains in 2018, but can it shake off lingering doubts about the franchise, asks David Rothnie.

KfW and the European Investment Bank mandated banks on Wednesday for the first sterling SSA deals of the year. Public sector borrowers are looking to pile into the sterling market before the crunch vote by the UK Parliament on Theresa May’s Brexit deal in mid-January, with deals expected in both Sonia-linked and fixed rate formats.

The global high yield bond market has produced $320bn of new issues in 2018, up to December 21, 43% down on last year’s total of $563bn, according to Dealogic. Sentiment has turned progressively more bearish as the year has worn on, with concerns about US-China trade hostility and overvaluation of US equities biting.

Conditions have rarely been sweeter for European borrowers seeking to diversify their funding sources. Europe’s dominant private debt markets for investment grade issuers, the US private placement market and the Schuldschein, are thriving, and agents in both are on the hunt for new borrowers. Their search will better if, as expected, public bond markets have a tough 2019. Silas Brown reports.

SSA euro issuance outstripped dollars this year, thanks to strong conditions in the first half and the vagaries of the basis swap. But the end of eurozone quantitative easing and political strife made it a trickier place later in 2018 — and those elements are unlikely to disappear in 2019.