BBVA

Spanish civil engineering group ACS sold the first senior green bond by a corporate issuer for more than a month on Thursday, following a European roadshow earlier in the week. Green bonds are often said to offer a pricing benefit to issuers, but the company found it still had to pay a significant new issue premium.

Volkswagen Financial Services had been conspicuous by its absence in the euro corporate bond market in the first quarter of 2018. Having been the largest corporate issuer by volume in 2017, the company had used other markets so far this year before selling a new triple tranche deal.

Funding for leveraged buyouts in the European primary high yield market gained further share of overall issuance this week, as specialty car parts maker LKQ of Chicago sold a €1bn bond for its acquisition of German peer Stahlgruber.

Corporate bond issuers who sold their deals earlier the week found execution much easier than those who came later in the week. Strong order books and single digit new issue premiums gave way to premiums of as much as 20bp and one deal having to be downsized.

Spanish telecoms company Telefonica announced the sale of new hybrid issues this week while also tendering for several of its outstanding hybrids. After more than a month since the last benchmark euro hybrid issue, investors contributed to an order book exceeding €4.5bn.

Santander and CaixaBank's additional tier one (AT1) deals this week suggested investors are increasingly taking account of the reset spreads of new issues, as BBVA said it would call its debut bond in the asset class — making it the first in a core currency to be called. Market participants also questioned Santander’s roadshow strategy.

The day after a jumbo corporate bond issue is often a quiet one for new issuance as investors digest their allocations and assess the impact on secondary spreads. But after Sanofi's €8bn offering on Wednesday, Thursday was another bumper day.

Spanish telecoms company Telefonica has announced the sale of its latest hybrid new issues while also tendering for several of its outstanding hybrids. After over a month since the last benchmark euro hybrid issue, investors contributed to a large order book.

Six of the nine investment grade corporate new issues in the last week of February were announced with a three letter acronym that, while providing clarity, served to frustrate investors keen to see greater volumes of issuance. WNG stands for “will not grow” and this week told investors that the meagre sized deals would not be increased, irrespective of demand.

Banks unleashed a blizzard of floating rate bond issuance on the euro market this week, tapping into some pent-up demand from investors. But the return of the long-neglected and more defensive FRN format suggests that issuers feel as though they could be on shakier ground in the primary market this year.

Five new investment grade corporate bond deals were priced on Tuesday and, while pricing was competitive, none of the issuers allowed for any growth in the size of the deals as all five used a no-grow strategy.

Orders peaked at more than €3.4bn for BBVA’s five year non-preferred senior deal on Tuesday, with floating rate notes starting to prove popular among both investors and issuers.