Barclays

The European Investment Bank is out with a three year dollar benchmark, which bankers away from the deal feel is aggressively priced — although its leads disagreed with that assessment.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and L-Bank are out with long five year euro benchmarks, as bankers reported a lack of demand at the short and long end of the curve.

Equities is proving a tough business to get right in Asia, with yet more banks forced to cut staff in recent months. Barclays and CIMB are just the latest in a long line of casualties, and as the fee pool continues to shrink, industry insiders reckon that more pain is in store for the bit players, writes John Loh.

Bankers say that five years appears to be the right point in euros in a week in which a raft of issuers hit the books.

A window for sovereign, supranational and agency issuance opened after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday, with deals likely to get done before the inevitable slowdown accompanying the start of the Chinese new year on February 8.

KfW and the European Investment Bank nipped in with one-day executions on Thursday, raising €1bn apiece in what has been a turbulent week.

A trio of agencies priced deals on Wednesday after a challenging Tuesday that was impacted by a combination of worrying data from China and low oil prices.

Public sector borrowers are hitting several parts of the euro curve, with dollar issuance all but dried up before the US Federal Reserve announces later on Wednesday the outcome of its Federal Open Markets Committee meeting.

A $975m refinancing for India’s Reliance Industries has opened for general syndication via 13 mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

Export Development Canada (EDC) has printed $1bn no-grow three year dollar benchmark that brought in a large order book and priced tightly, despite volatility elsewhere in markets.

Shire's $18bn loan looks set for a strong subscription in syndication, said bankers this week, and a string of bridge financing deals is raising the market's mood.

Qatar has signed its $5.5bn five year loan with 13 banks in the syndicate. The six underwriting banks are holding at least $4.2bn of the loan between them, according to a banker on the deal.