Barclays

The UK drew its largest ever book on Tuesday, taking care of nearly a quarter of its overall syndication programme for the 2017-18 financial year in the process. The deal was particularly impressive given the volatile political backdrop in the UK, said a banker on the trade.

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US cloud and physical data manager Iron Mountain’s €300m deal proved European investors can give US IT company debt a chance despite some troubled recent deals.

German mining firm K+S issued in the bond market for the second time in the past six weeks on Wednesday, in investment grade style despite its October downgrade into high yield ratings.

The European Investment Bank on Wednesday brought the first 10 year dollar benchmark from a triple-A SSA since the first week of the year, and despite tricky conditions found sufficient demand to increase the trade from its initial $1bn target. Adding a touch of novelty, the deal was part of what Dealogic data shows was EIB’s first ever dual tranche dollar benchmark.

The SSA market has played host to a series of strong deals this week and shows no signs of fatigue, as investors flock to make the most of the glut of supply.

Steven Halperin, co-head of EMEA equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, is leaving that job and will return to the US, to a different role at Barclays. He is already spending more of his time in the US.

The European Investment Bank is set to take a novel approach to green bond issuance, after mandating for a dual tranche dollar deal — of which only one leg is a Climate Awareness Bond. Like Kommuninvest, which printed a four year dollar green bond on Tuesday, the supranational may have to contend with volatile dollar swap spreads.

The UK drew its largest ever book as it printed its biggest syndication in nominal terms in nearly three years on Tuesday — taking care of nearly a quarter of its overall syndication programme for the 2017-18 financial year in the process. Bankers away from the trade suggested some of the rampant demand may be due to investor hunger for 40 year paper.

Following the new structure announced in Barclays banking and markets business last week, JF Astier, who now heads capital markets, has laid out the senior leadership of the business, and Jonathan Brown, co-head of IG syndicate, has moved to a new job.

The Province of Quebec will print in sterling for the first time in over 20 years after hiring banks on Monday for a five year deal, joining other Canadian provinces in returning or debuting in the currency in 2017. The trade will come in the same week as the UK sovereign sells the first syndication of its 2017-18 financial year.

Barclays has priced the tightest sterling covered bond since January 2015 and attracted more demand than for any sterling covered bond ever issued.