Barclays

Markit, the financial information provider, will increase the number of constituents in its iTraxx Crossover index of credit default swaps by 20%, as the European high yield market keeps growing.

Lenders received invitations on Monday to a $1.4bn term loan for UK medical equipment firm Smith & Nephew's acquisition of US medical devices company ArthroCare.

Cinven is raising a syndicated loan to back its $915m takeover of a majority stake in Medpace, the US clinical research outsourcing firm.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank closed the first FIG deal from the Middle East this week, pricing a $750m bond flat to its secondary curve. Bankers off and even on the deal had doubted how much international interest there would be given how tight Middle East spreads are relative to the rest of the CEEMEA market. But the final order book left no doubt about demand for a region which, in a world of EM uncertainty, has stability and credit strength firmly on its side.

Pohjola Bank was set to print a familiar Scandinavian seven year in senior unsecured on Monday, but made its trade stand out with the addition of a much rarer floating rate note.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) opened books on a five year conventional dollar bond on Monday morning, and is on track to price a benchmark deal with very little new issue premium, said bankers away from the deal.

Quasi-sovereign Indian Railway Finance Corp generated more than $3bn in demand for its $500m five year bond this week, as investors jumped at the chance to diversify away from China and Korean credits — and also took a bet that the bond would be included in the EMBI.

Covered bond spreads are so tight that there is almost no scope for secondary performance, bankers have warned. “Core markets are in a zone of low oxygen,” one said on Tuesday, as KBC Bank priced a deal within a few basis points of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Deutsche Kreditbank.

Swedbank came to the dollar market for the first time in nearly a year with a $1bn five year 144a offering of senior level bank notes on Thursday.

Italian bond yields hit lows last seen before the eurozone sovereign debt crisis began as a fresh political face in the form of Florence’s former mayor, Matteo Renzi put a sheen on peripheral sovereign bonds. But Renzi’s incoming government, which was still being formed as EuroWeek went to press, may face challenges almost immediately. The first weeks of the new government could be crucial for the sovereign’s borrowing as the Treasury has yet to syndicate its first bond of 2014, which could come as soon as March.

Demand for dollar deals from a pair of German issuers surpassed expectations this week, as Erste Abwicklungsanstalt followed a heavily oversubscribed print from KfW with its debut benchmark in the currency — and had to increase the size in the face of strong demand.

Gulf Marine Services, the Abu Dhabi offshore service vessel operator, hopes to tap into investors’ interest in its potential for growth to raise $100m of primary proceeds through a London IPO.