Belgium

BNP Paribas Fortis managed to get an oversubscribed order book for its seven year covered bond and priced the deal inside the previous Belgian issue from ING. However, the deal was unusually slow to build and, with market conditions deteriorating, spreads are expected to widen.

Guarantor: Kingdom of Belgium (51.41%), Republic of France (45.59%) and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (3.00%)

ING Belgium's order book for a €1bn eight year issued on Thursday was larger than any for a covered bond of this size since January. The exceptionally strong bid is something that other issuers will look to take advantage of before Eurosystem purchases are scaled back again.

The strong demand that has permeated the dollar market over the last few weeks showed no signs of abating on Tuesday, as a pair of borrowers issued benchmarks that were comfortably oversubscribed.

Dexia Crédit Local and CPPIB Capital released initial price thoughts on Monday for their new five year dollar benchmarks amid what bankers called a "good backdrop" for the maturity. Both deals are due to be priced on Tuesday.

The euro senior corporate market slowed right down over the summer, but the actual break in issuance was for barely two weeks. For hybrid deals, however, it was nearly seven weeks from the last new issue to Belgian electricity grid operator Elia’s deal this week.

An IPO of Belfius Bank is set to go ahead after the Belgian government reached a deal on Monday over compensation for losses suffered by some shareholders during the crisis-era rescue of Dexia.

Belgian postal operator Bpost announced a debut benchmark eight year deal within 48 hours of finishing an investor roadshow and achieved a very high quality order book for an eight year bond.

The €90m re-IPO of Belgian shoe retailer FNG was due to be priced at €27 on Thursday, above the bottom of the initial €26.25 to €29.75 range, according to a banker involved in the transaction.

The State of North Rhine-Westphalia has launched its first ever 50 year benchmark, coming to market just as Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten landed at the short end.

Two corporate bond issuers from opposite ends of the ratings spectrum found similar success with new bonds on Wednesday. The seven and eight year tenors found favour with investors looking to put new cash inflows to work.

Vittoria Assicurazioni and P&V Assurances went ahead with very similar debut deals on Wednesday. But the trades enjoyed contrasting levels of success, with Vittoria the only one able to attract a substantial amount of oversubscription.