Barclays

Honeywell International has hired four banks to arrange its return to the European bond markets after a 15 year absence.

Export Development Canada is to price a $1bn no-grow February 2019 benchmark on Tuesday, ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve rates meeting.

The European Financial Stability Facility will hit the short and long end of the curve with its second benchmark of the year, a move that is being viewed as an effort to achieve size and duration.

UniCredit has offered to buy back up to €1.8bn of subordinated bonds mainly held by retail investors for the third time this year, as it looks to clean up its capital structure.

The carnage afflicting worldwide financial markets played into a trio of issuers’ hands this week, with each one able to attract strong demand from investors seeking safety in uncertain times.

Chemring, the UK defence contractor, said on Thursday that it would issue £80.8m of new shares to reduce its debt, after profit shortfalls last year.

A storming start to the supranational and agency sterling market showed no signs of abating this week as issuance volume reached a record year-to-date high — and another issuer lined up a deal for Friday.

The global sell-off in commodities and stocks has brought the US corporate bond market to a standstill, leaving corporate issuers unsure about when they can tap the market after the only trade of the week stumbled and AB InBev’s $46bn blockbuster continued to underperform.

Barclays beat a hasty retreat this week from the bulk of its investment banking operations in Asia, shuttering offices in multiple countries and slashing hundreds of jobs amid a wider global cull in costs and personnel. It did not pull any punches, with the cuts stretching across the equities, loans and bonds products. John Loh reports.

The World Bank and Cades were both able to bring large deals at the short end of the dollar curve on Thursday, despite a difficult market backdrop for issuers.

Veritas Technologies, the US software firm that Carlyle Group is buying from Symantec, will aim to complete a revised $7.4bn sale next week after failing to secure financing in November.

Barclays insists it can continue to thrive in Asian and emerging markets equity financing and equity derivatives, even while closing its cash equities businesses in those regions. It also wants to strengthen its core investment banking activity in Europe and the US.