Barclays

Mobile phone maker Xiaomi’s $1bn dual tranche loan has netted commitments from seven lenders that made it in time for the loan’s early bird deadline in general. These banks will earn an early bird fee of 15bp for getting commitments in by October 6.

Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) is looking to become the third Korean lender to tap the dollar market with a tier two bond, mandating four banks to handle the transaction.

Four issuers launched covered bonds from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Austria this week. The transactions were all well subscribed and priced tightly but the greatest degree of price tension was seen in deals that are expected to be eligible for the European Central Bank’s purchase programme.

European credit markets had a nasty turn today, which salespeople and analysts blamed on news that Bill Gross, the so-called “Bond King’”, had decided to leave Pimco, the world’s biggest bond investor – though perhaps just because they wanted something to blame. Yet Babcock International, the UK engineering services group, still managed to issue a €550m bond – its first in the European market.

SIG, a Sheffield-based specialist building products company, has refinanced a £250m revolving credit facility that was due to mature in May 2015.

Qatar’s Ahli Bank has closed a $200m debut syndicated term loan facility, increasing the size of the deal after its initial amount was oversubscribed.

European credit markets had a nasty turn today, which salespeople and analysts blamed on news that Bill Gross, the so-called ‘bond king’, had decided to leave Pimco, the world’s biggest bond investor. Yet Babcock International, the UK engineering services group, still managed to issue a €550m bond – its first in the European market, according to Dealogic.

Hana Bank has become only the second Korean lender to tap the dollar market for a tier two bond, pricing a $300m issue on September 25 that was multiple times oversubscribed. But some of the credit for success has to go the country’s regulator for tweaking its Basel III rules before the transaction.

Oesterreischische Kontrollbank — OeKB

Dollar demand for sovereign, supranational and agency names made its first signs of slowing this week, as one benchmark fell short of full subscription and other deals, while still oversubscribed, showed signs of demand being less exuberant than in the first weeks after the summer break.

Expectations of low supply in the remaining part of the year and a hunger for yield benefited FIG issuers this week. Barclays, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all received strong receptions for new senior prints.

Acquisitions announced on Monday by Siemens, Merck and Arkema marked the continuation of a wave of European investment grade acquisitions, with varied outcomes for syndicated loan financing.