Barclays

The revival of sterling bond issuance powered ahead on Thursday, as Procter & Gamble brought a £750m deal that one banker said was “as rare as Halley’s Comet”. That coincided with a £1bn covered bond from Santander and a £400m debut from Martlet Homes.

On Thursday night, Nomura launched the sale of a 1.6% stake in Standard Chartered, the UK emerging markets-focused lender, through an accelerated bookbuild led by Barclays.

Misys has tinkered with the $5.35bn-equivalent loan package backing its acquisition of Canadian competitor D+H, with a banker on the deal saying the basis swap between dollars and euros was especially attractive to the issuer.

Indian power company NTPC sold its second Masala bond on Tuesday, hitting the market a day after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) kicked off a roadshow for its debut. With more state-owned companies expected to jump on the Masala bandwagon, the government’s efforts at boosting the market appear to be paying off, writes Morgan Davis.

India’s NTPC sealed a Rp20bn ($311m) five year Masala bond on Tuesday, as the country continues its struggle to develop the offshore rupee market.

Tullow Oil, the Anglo-Irish oil and gas drilling company, finished its £625m rights issue with a small rump placement on Tuesday morning.

The top lending group for a dual-tranche borrowing by Vedanta Group has shrunk after one bank dropped out of the syndicate to tie up its portion of the financing bilaterally.

India’s NTPC opened books for a new offshore rupee offering on Tuesday, the second Masala transaction to hit the market this year.

Drax Group, the UK energy holding company, held a roadshow on Wednesday and Thursday for a £500m fixed and floating rate senior secured bond offering, following its acquisition of Opus Energy earlier this year, and further increased it to £550m on Friday.

Rare covered bond issuers from Portugal and Spain made a surprise return to the market this week after long absences with transactions that, under the circumstances, were very well received.

Shares in Cobham, the troubled UK aerospace and marine technology company, have risen 12% since the company’s shareholders gave their backing for the company’s second rights issue in 12 months on Wednesday.

UK hotel group Travelodge and social care firm Voyage Care both started roadshows on Wednesday for £165m and £250m of notes, respectively.