Barclays

Stonegate Pub Co, the fourth largest in the UK’s managed pub sector, offered on Thursday an £80m tap of its debut fixed rate note, to fund the partial purchase of peer firm Tattershall Castle Group.

UK property firm Hammerson has signed a €1bn revolving credit facility to buy a €1.85bn loan portfolio from Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency.

The increasing attractiveness of euros over dollars has led one public sector borrower to mandate for its first ever benchmark in the currency — and more debut issuers could follow.

A German agency has drawn over €7.5bn of orders for a euro benchmark despite offering a negative yield — leaving bankers puzzled over why no other issuers are hitting screens in the currency.

Banks have rarely been considered paragons of virtue, but never have they been as vilified as they are today. After the bail-outs, a seemingly endless procession of misconduct has left ethically-minded customers holding their noses while reaching for debit cards. But against the backdrop of scandal and suspicion, banks are doing more than ever to demonstrate to customers that they are doing the right thing. Owen Sanderson reports.

A supranational has mandated for a dual tranche dollar benchmark, amid signs that issuers are willing to pay up to get size. But Sweden took a different route, pricing a $1bn deal arguably through its curve.

With only $25bn of green bonds issued so far, volumes of SRI instruments in 2015 are a little disappointing. Predictions at the beginning of the year that $100bn of green bonds would be issued in 2015 are likely to be wide of the mark, with many now saying the end of year total could struggle to match 2014’s $37bn. But few in this developing market are downhearted, preferring to see 2015 as a year of consolidation and necessary adjustment as the product reacts to poor general market conditions and begins to mature. In fact, despite the low volumes, progress is being made. The issuer base is beginning to expand beyond the confines of the public sector, as more banks join the list of issuers. Emerging market companies are also turning to the market, such as Brazil’s BRF with a €500m deal in June. Meanwhile, the investor base is growing in a healthy fashion, with Barclays and Deutsche pledging to invest £1bn and €1bn respectively in green bonds. As for 2016, expectations are that volumes will bounce back, with companies and municipalities leading the charge, along with more banks and emerging market issuers from Latin America. These topics and many more were discussed at GlobalCapital’s SRI roundtable in New York in mid-September.

From wind energy to improving inadequate education systems, there is no lack of need for SRI financing in Latin America. LatAm may be unlikely to see the rapid emergence of a mainstream green bond market, but there is no shortage of invention or hard work across the region to ensure it is not left behind. Oliver West reports

The year 2015 has seen important progress in the field of green bond investment in Asia, with the emergence of two big new markets — China and India. For its Tokyo roundtable, GlobalCapital invited a panel of issuers, investors, analysts and bankers to discuss the trends in the sector and the potential for development as new markets open up for the asset class across the region.

Corporate and FIG green bonds had a breakthrough year in 2014 and there have been several deals already this year. But with banks facing a flood of new regulations and the cost of reporting putting some corporations off the idea of printing green bonds, the two sectors face challenges not endured by SSA issuers. There are, however, still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the future of corporate and FIG green bonds. GlobalCapital brought together corporate and FIG funding officials, bankers and green bond experts London for a roundtable discussion on how 2015 has fared — and what 2016 will bring.

As the green bond market grows and becomes more sophisticated, so do the demands from investors for better verification and reporting standards. But with a proliferation of approaches and third party opinion providers, there are calls for standardisation — and even the potential for pricing differentials developing among bonds with different qualities of reporting. Craig McGlashan reports.

GlobalCapital's European SRI roundtable for 2015 brought together issuers, investors and bankers to discuss how to tackle the capital markets challenges of sustainable and responsible investment.