Barclays

The International Finance Corporation is set to bring its first five year dollar global benchmark in two years, and could achieve an even tighter spread than Nordic Investment Bank’s multi-year low two weeks ago, according to on-looking bankers weighing fair value.

At the end of a dead week for equity block trading in Europe, Barclays hit the market on Thursday night with a £78m sale of stock in Hays, the UK recruitment consultancy, on behalf of Equiom Turst, a Guernsey registered trust and a trustee of the Chainpoint Unit Trust.

Concerns from some fund managers about the terms of Altice’s new €2.5bn-equivalent bond were swamped by orders from other investors eager to bag single-B paper with a big coupon from a core high yield issuer. After a series of successful investor push-backs on deal terms, the debt laden French telecom proved this week that borrowers still can walk away with loose covenants, writes Victor Jimenez.

Barclays said it had hired former Deutsche banker Darren Campili as vice-chairman in healthcare banking, part of the UK bank's push to expand its European banking operations.

There is a sense that banks in the Middle East are being encouraged to pledge allegiance in the public bond markets to either Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates or to Qatar, as the diplomatic tensions between the two sides rumble on. But in the MTN market it is becoming clear that no such division exists.

India’s Housing Development Finance Corp, which is expected to wrap up senior syndication of a $750m loan soon, is gearing up for the next phase of the syndication process.

French telecoms firm Altice called on the high yield bond and leveraged loan markets with a €4bn cross-border refinancing deal this week, hoping that improved quarterly results would help investors shake off the apprehension they showed for the credit in March.

Rating: Aa1/AA/AA

Guarantor: Japan

Investor appetite remains strong for longer dated euro SSA bonds, encouraging the likes of EFSF and KfW to tap the long-end of the curve this week. But the question is: will the demand last, and for how long?

After three sterling bonds this week from the eurozone, the cross-border issuance in the currency reached its highest ever year-to-date level, according to Dealogic.

Carmakers took advantage of a light calendar and an improving backdrop to reopen the dollar bond market after a week-long supply drought.