Barclays

UK travel operator Thomas Cook is set to price its €400m high yield bond on Friday, riding a wave of successful high yield issues this week.

Akbank TAS is out in the market with a new dollar bond, a week after the Turkish sovereign made its 2015 debut. The bank is making an opportunistic move to take advantage of tight spreads caused by a flight to less volatile credits across CEEMEA.

Export Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) staged a successful return to the international debt market on January 12, selling a SEC registered dual tranche deal that drew over $6bn of demand. Amid high levels of volatility since the start of the new year, bankers chose a good window for the Korean issuer, which achieved its goals for size and pricing.

South Korea’s Woori Bank raised smaller-than-expected $350m with its first dollar bond of 2015 on January 14. Due to the smaller order book size and slower bookbuilding process than usual, the South Korean lender had to settle for the lower end of what it aimed to raise, but has been enjoying a good performance in the secondary market.

Investment grade corporate bond issuance soared on Wednesday with a €1.75bn ($2.03bn) dual tranche deal from Toyota Motor Credit; benchmark bonds from Iberdrola and Evonik; and debuts from US Reit WP Carey, and UK charity the Wellcome Trust. In total, €4bn of bonds were issued.

US real estate investment trust WP Carey issued a €500m eight year bond on Wednesday, continuing the 2014 trend of non-European companies selling bonds in the currency.

Jonathan Moulds, former EMEA president of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will join Barclays as group chief operating officer, a newly created role.

Woori Bank opened books to its first dollar bond this year on Wednesday, January 14, as the South Korean lender was encouraged by the relatively successful outcomes of compatriot Export Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) earlier this week.

Virgin Media expects its leverage to remain within levels set by its parent company Liberty Global, after it raised a £925m-equivalent bond to finance a merger with another subsidiary, UPC Ireland.

Pirelli, the Italian tyre maker, has revved up the year's loan market business with a €1bn facility signed last week, that the company said was three times oversubscribed.

Book sizes for Tuesday’s offerings of senior fixed rate deals have fallen sharply, compared to the unusually swollen orders placed for new issues in recent days, but the market is still steaming ahead.

Export Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) staged a successful return to the international debt market on Monday, January 12, selling a SEC registered dual tranche deal that drew over $6bn of demand. Amid high levels of volatility seen since the start of the new year, bankers carefully chose a good window for the Korean issuer, who achieved both its size and pricing goals.