Barclays

January’s impressive pipeline of sovereign issuance is starting to unload, as Italy and Portugal hit screens on Tuesday for their first syndications of the year.

The United Mexican States has released price guidance on its first euro bond for over a year.

Barclays and Lloyds were marketing new senior offerings from their holding companies on Monday, having each already printed two transactions in the first week of 2018.

While the high yield bond pipeline has yet to reveal its first roadshow of 2018, two leveraged loan borrowers announced new deals on Friday. They are trailer supplier Dexko Global and Planasa, the Spanish berry producer.

The sterling market had a healthy opening week in the public sector with three deals raising a combined £1.9bn, and there is plenty more in the pipeline, according to syndicate bankers.

The sterling covered bond market enjoyed a strong start to the year, with four issuers raising a collective £3.7bn. Barclays priced the first deal of the year, which also happened to be one of the longest and largest.

When the shadowy figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto launched bitcoin in 2009, few predicted that the technology underpinning it would, in a few short years, be hailed as an invention as important as the internet. Capital markets are on the front line for disruption, writes Lewis McLellan.

2017 saw some serious capital raising by European banks. Four European globally systemic banks, in four monster rights issues, raised more than €30bn — partly to deal with non-performing loans and partly to reclaim their places in global investment banking and capital markets. Even banks that did not turn to the equity markets sought to conserve capital — but is 2018 the year when belts will start to be loosened again? Owen Sanderson reports.

A pair of public sector borrowers blew away the cobwebs in the sterling market on Wednesday, printing a combined £1.5bn.

Investment grade corporate bond market players only had to wait one day for the first new deals of 2018. Renault and BMW both brought new paper to market on Wednesday, selling a total of €2.75bn of bonds with little premium.

LBBW and Barclays attracted strong demand for the first euro and sterling covered bond benchmarks of 2018 while ABN, Compagnie de Finacement Foncier (CFF) and Bank of Nova Scotia mandated leads for deals that suggested there would be a typically frenetic start to the year.

Holders of the rights auctioned in the rump sale after Banca Carige's rights issue have subscribed for only €22.8m of the €167m of shares available to them. The largest shareholder has 12 hours to exercise an option to buy €69.5m of the remainder.