Barclays

A chaotic start to the week for the euro corporate bond market saw one deal pulled on a combination of soured sentiment and aggressive pricing, causing issuers to engage in a balancing act before risk appetite returned in force at the end of the week.

The African Development Bank’s funding team will be “heroes” if the issuer’s debut euro benchmark is a success on Friday, said SSA bankers away from the deal.

Investors threw off the caution on Thursday that saw them hesitate over lower-rated investment grade corporate bond deals offering low spreads on earlier in the week.

Stadshypotek attracted a wealth of demand on Monday for its first covered bond backed by Finnish mortgages, and priced the deal much tighter than initially indicated with few investors falling out.

Two more sterling benchmarks from investment grade corporates hit the market on Thursday, extending a strong week for bonds in the currency.

South Africa has opened books on a dual tranche 2028 and 2046 dollar bond after a turbulent summer and while the generous starting price is likely to generate momentum in the book, fears of a downgrade overhang the transaction with one investor telling GlobalCapital he saw better value elsewhere.

After a rocky beginning to the week that saw an offering from Lufthansa pulled — a rarity in the European corporate bond market — French transnational utility and service company Veolia managed to sell a total of €1.1bn in senior unsecured bonds across two tranches on Wednesday.

BASF SE was on Wednesday set to become the first sterling issuer into the primary market with an outstanding bond that is already eligible for purchase under the Bank of England’s Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme, which kicked off on Tuesday.

German chemicals supplier Lanxess picked two banks to supply its €2bn bridge facility for the acquisition of Chemtura. More banks are set to join in syndication, according to a banker close to the deal.

Stadshypotek attracted a robust following for its first covered bond backed by Finnish assets, and even though the final spread was much tighter than leads initially indicated, few investors fell out.

Spanish natural gas utility Enagás is in talks with its relationship banks to refinance a €1.5bn revolving credit facility.

After a two year absence from the capital markets, two Nigerian corporate issuers are lining up to test investor demand for sub-Saharan Africa high yield credit.