Barclays

UK government bonds this week joined the country’s currency in taking a hammering, but public sector bankers are confident that a scheduled Gilt syndication next week will go well — and there could also be arbitrage opportunities in sterling.

Poland cemented its position as one of CEE’s most nimble and savvy issuers on Tuesday by printing a 30 year euro deal — only the second ever from a non-Eurozone sovereign — in an opportunistic trade.

In a troubled new issue market strewn with casualties, the $1.8bn-plus IPO of ConvaTec, the UK medical supplies maker, got covered at its base size on Tuesday, while Misys, the London-based banking software producer, opened the books for its £650m-£750m IPO with a lower free float than initially planned.

The sterling corporate bond market maintained some, albeit low, momentum as UK coach operator National Express announced the mandate for a seven year issue in the currency on Thursday.

While Access Bank safely landed its dollar Eurobond last week, the outlook for Nigerian banks seeking new loans is cloudy.

Italy’s corporate sector extended its run of new bonds intended to fund buy-backs on Wednesday, with multiutility Acea the latest borrower to use the manoeuvre.

Food and drinks giant Nestlé has signed €10.5bn of loans to refinance five and one year deals. The company refinanced to secure a similar group of banks in both deals, according to one banker.

A group of banks and service providers, led by New York based start-up Axoni, have completed a test of blockchain technology and smart contracts to manage affirmations and post-trade lifecycle processing for over-the-counter equity swaps, building on similar work done earlier this year for credit derivatives.

Poland cemented its position as one of EM’s most nimble and savvy issuers on Tuesday by printing a 30 year euro deal — only the second ever from a non-Eurozone sovereign — in an opportunistic trade.

Snam visited the euro corporate bond market for the second week in a row on Tuesday, issuing a €500m four year bond and clinching a 0% coupon for the offering.

The European Investment Bank was first into the dollar market this week with a three year mandate, the maturity of choice for dollar issuers over the last few weeks. Export Development Canada last Friday sold the first five year dollar benchmark from SSA in several weeks and, while it went well, bankers do not expect other issuers to follow suit.

Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Property Holdings is looking to take advantage of a recent rating upgrade to ready a bond offering.