BNP Paribas

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.

Rating: —/BBB/BBB

BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole enjoyed the best of conditions as they reopened the market for non-preferred senior bonds from eurozone banks this week, but Société Générale ran into market turbulence when it emerged a day later. Bankers said that showed that demand for the instrument remains limited.

The euro high grade corporate bond market was noticeably calmer this week, but deals for issuers as diverse as Telstra, American Honda, La Poste and Givaudan saw chunky books and shrinking new issue premiums.

Informa, the UK publishing and events company, has taken the decision to suspend its dividend and raise £1bn of fresh equity after the Covid-19 pandemic caused hundreds of its conferences to be postponed.

Telstra, the Australian telecoms company, printed euro denominated debt through its curve on Thursday, but there is growing concern among bankers that the good times will not last in the bond markets.

Cassa Depositi e Prestiti pulled off a €1bn dual tranche Covid-19 response bond on Wednesday, capitalising on investors’ desire to deploy cash into coronavirus instruments to ride out a difficult market.

Société Générale continued the streak of French bail-in bond issuance on Wednesday but had to pay a higher new issue premium compared to its compatriots.