BNP Paribas

Banks and insurance companies were falling over one another to issue green bonds this week, with deal arrangers seeing ESG labels as near infallible ways of bringing pricing through fair value, write Tyler Davies and David Freitas.

Caisse d’Amortissement de la Dette Sociale (Cades) and the International Development Association set new size records this week, with the former bringing the biggest ever social bond in dollars and the latter issuing its biggest ever bond since entering the capital markets in 2018.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB), two new supranational borrowers focused on the emerging markets, are preparing to issue new dollar bonds to support their member states in the fight against the pandemic.

Swedish debt purchaser Intrum sold a tap of its 4.875% 2025 unsecured notes on Wednesday, intending to use the funds to part-pay its revolving credit facility. With a strong backdrop, and plenty of RCF drawings still outstanding, the company increased the deal by €50m during syndication.

Coventry Building Society struggled to build much momentum behind the sale of a new senior bond this week, as the sterling market proved especially vulnerable to new fears around Brexit.

Amadeus IT group, the Spanish travel technology company, and German logistics company Kion Group offered corporate bond investors the chance to pick up riskier debt on Thursday, as the demand for higher yielding securities drives large parts of the primary market.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is readying its second dollar bond of the year, which will be used to support its member states in the fight against the pandemic.

Altice France leapt straight into the market after Friday’s surprise announcement that owner and founder Patrick Drahi would be taking the company private. Research from Federated Hermes shows that the credit spread premium for a private company has dropped to virtually zero for the first time in 20 years.

Hamburg Commercial Bank is getting ready to issue a new tier two capital bond with an unusual five year tenor, as part of its efforts to reconnect with investors following its privatisation in 2018.

Bank of China took yet another step this week to build China’s sustainability market by selling Asia’s first blue bond to benefit ocean-related projects — opening the door for similar deals from the region. Morgan Davis reports.

The Republic of Bulgaria issued a €2.5bn dual-tranche bond on Tuesday to support its expanding state budget, following a raft of its regional peers which are responding to the Covid-19 crisis with substantial deals.

Commerzbank and Unipol Group ‘ticked all the boxes’ with their new green senior transactions on Wednesday, amassing large orders from investors.