Barclays

A conveyor belt of dollar benchmarks from SSAs passed quality control this week despite tough background conditions. But there are signs issuers are following those in euros by boosting concessions.

Altice, the fast-growing French cable telecoms investment group, raised €1.61bn of new capital today (Thursday October 1) with an intraday accelerated bookbuild, to finance its acquisition of Cablevision, the US cable company.

The euro market’s strength over dollars is impelling public sector borrowers to line up the currency for rare or even debut visits — and there are strong signs this opportunity could last longer than earlier windows.

Kommuninvest and KfW found good demand for short dated dollar benchmarks on Thursday despite difficult market conditions.

World Bank on Wednesday sold the largest dollar benchmark from an SSA since July, as other issuers lined up deals in the currency.

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.