BNP Paribas

ABN Amro and Commerzbank have proven that the additional tier one (AT1) market is wide open for business, after they clocked up more than €17bn of combined demand for their two new deals on Monday.

Three European companies, one of them a high yield issuer, jumped into the corporate bond market on Friday, the first to test the waters after the European Central Bank's promise the previous day to top them up with another €600bn of liquidity through its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp). They found overwhelming demand, leading to fast sales, an increase and deeply negative new issue premiums.

Reliance Industries raised Rp531.2bn ($7.04bn) this week from India’s largest ever rights issue and the company’s first primary equity offering for over 25 years.

Zhenro Properties Group and Seazen Group took advantage of a lack of high yield dollar bond supply in Asia to raise $600m between them on Thursday.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market saw a steady stream of trades this week, with the bigger than expected fresh wave of bond buying announced by the European Central Bank forecast to keep the rally in corporate credit going.

Guarantor: All Danish municipalities and regions

Engie, the French electricity and gas company, braved the markets alone as the European Central Bank met on Thursday, with the bigger than expected fresh wave of bond buying announced forecast to keep the rally in corporate credit going.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has joined a fast-growing list of banks marketing Covid-19 response funding in the bond market, raising €750m in non-preferred senior format on Thursday to finance projects through its social bond framework that tackle the effects of the pandemic

Standard Chartered sold its first capital instrument in euros since 2014 this week, clocking up a considerable 40bp saving versus the dollar market. The deal adds to a recent flurry of tier two supply from European banks.

Italy once again asserted its market access on Wednesday, raising a staggering €14bn — its biggest single tranche bond ever. The new issue was timed just ahead of Thursday’s ECB meeting, at which the governing council is expected to expand its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp).

Four public sector borrowers hit the dollar market on Wednesday, including a rare seven year deal from new issuer International Development Association (IDA).

French food company Danone led the pack in a strong day for vanilla corporate bond issuance in Europe, with an €800m deal, as some syndicate bankers say recent borrowers are looking to return to the market soon to take advantage of tightening spreads.