BNP Paribas

Financial institutions with funding needs that are holding off in anticipation of better issuance conditions are doing it wrong. Waiting until the other side of earnings season to bring deals will likely prove a mistake.

Any concerns over Italy’s market access were vanquished on Tuesday when the sovereign received €110bn of orders for a dual tranche bond syndication, allowing it to raise €16bn as it makes inroads into its enlarged funding task in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Switzerland’s Firmenich and Australia’s APA Group have mandated banks to arrange fixed income investor meetings, with both companies looking to recapture the magic of compatriot issuers in recent weeks.

Sweden’s Alfa Laval has amended its revolving credit facilities, with the heavy industry products maker consolidating two old deals into one €900m revolver.

A measured reopening of the primary bond markets in the last month has left banks in a good place to launch new deals after first quarter results, according to FIG DCM officials.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea jumped on the floating rate note bandwagon on Monday, raising $700m from the market. It also added a euro tranche with a green label to its transaction.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) will tap the dollar market this week to become the latest public sector borrower to print a bond in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Italy mandated banks for a new five year to be sold alongside a tap of a September 2050 bond on Monday as it prepares to bolt on a bigger funding programme in order to fund its effort against the coronavirus pandemic. The sovereign will be joined by Luxembourg in the euro public sector bond market on Tuesday.

Europe’s high grade corporate issuers began the week deploying their recent tactic of tightening spreads aggressively during bookbuilding from cheap starting points, with Elia Transmission Belgium ratcheting in its spread by 60bp from initial price thoughts.

BPCE seized an opportunity to launch €1.5bn of preferred senior funding this week — an asset class that has outperformed all other bank funding products in the market in recent trading sessions.

Lenovo Group took a cautious approach to its $650m bond issuance last Friday, opting for size instead of price and offering investors a hefty premium for its deal.

Chinese property firm Country Garden Holdings Company is wooing lenders to a $140m loan to support its investments in two start-ups.