Barclays

R&R Ice Cream, the Yorkshire-based maker of branded and private label ice cream, switched from euros to sterling for its return to the high yield market on Thursday.

Philip Morris International revelled again on Tuesday in European bond investors’ love of tobacco. As usual, any conscientious objectors were not missed, as even after €5bn of tobacco bond issuance in February and March, investors piled into Philip Morris’s return.

US bond specialists predicted many things for 2014, but few expected a rally in Treasuries. Yet this week the 10 year Treasury yield fell to 2.55%, making borrowing conditions even more attractive for high grade companies.

Flint Group, which makes products for the printing and packaging industries, has made final adjustments to the original issue discounts for its €1.5bn-equivalent of debt after raising the margins on first and second lien tranches.

Low supply in April plus an expected rates cut from the European Central Bank next month should have investors gagging for sovereign, supranational and agency paper in euros at any price offered. But as borrowers demonstrated this week, successful deals will be those that offer something in terms of pricing or maturity, as buyers look to pick up yield or spread in an ultra-low rates environment, writes Tessa Wilkie.

London-based insurance company Aon and defunct French mortgage lender Caisse Centrale du Credit Immobilier de France (3CIF) took advantage of the recent undersupply in the FIG primary market to price senior deals this week. 3CIF tapped the short end of the maturity curve and Aon went long.

The state owned Dexia Kommunalbank is expected to return to the covered bond market for the first time in three years. Being among the lowest rated bonds issued this year from Germany, the spread pick-up should prove attractive.

R&R Ice Cream, the Yorkshire-based maker of branded and private label ice cream, priced its £315m high yield bond return at the tight end of guidance on Thursday.

CEO Anthony Jenkins praised Barclays as a bond arranger, leveraged finance, advisory and ECM, while simultaneously announcing 7,000 job cuts, to fall mainly on front office trading businesses.

Dim sum issuance volumes are on the rise, with four issuers launching deals and another wrapping up a roadshow on Thursday.

Export-Import Bank of China (Chexim) stood out from competing supply on Wednesday when it priced a rare three tranche offshore renminbi bond. Dealers said that the recent high volumes of dim sum issuance had not affected pricing.

Rizhao Port HK has opened guidance on its debut offshore renminbi bond which is backed by a standby letter of credit (SBLC).