BNP Paribas

CPPIB Capital hit the euro market on Monday, becoming the first SSA borrower not eligible for QE to access the market since the coronavirus outbreak shuttered the market. A fellow Canadian is set to follow suit.

Belgium has picked banks for a seven year benchmark, publishing the mandate just after joining the throng of sovereigns upping their funding requirements. Norway has also raised the size of its borrowing programme.

A string of well rated companies are preparing to issue bonds in the coming days, as syndicate desks are heartened by the continued ample demand from investors. Anheuser-Busch InBev, Volkswagen Financial Services and Thermo Fisher Scientific raised a total of €7.85bn in euros today, despite a rocky market.

As the dust settles on a thunderous week in the European corporate bond market that saw enormous order books and fat new premiums squeezed to nothing in one case, investors and bankers united in joy that the market was not just open again, but bursting with vigour. Central banks and governments had saved the day, they argued. Only a few are worrying about another lurch downwards, though this is more than likely.

A trio of UK companies drew down on their revolving credit facilities this week, as firms in the country build up their cash piles despite an unprecedented financial support package from the government.

Corporate borrowers are pumping out new bonds this week and on Thursday it was the turn of some of those worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, as investors have felt emboldened enough to look further down the credit curve each day this week. Aeroports de Paris is on screens, as investors credited central bank intervention with bolstering the market.

The Republic of Slovenia navigated a much changed euro new issue market on Tuesday, executing a three year bond and tap that required unconventional pricing tactics.

Riskier high grade corporate names saw more than €45bn of combined demand for new bonds on Wednesday. Danaher, Carrefour, Bertelsmann, Philips and Heineken were all in the market following a batch of deals from higher rated names a day earlier encourages borrowers to pile in.

Confectionery company Néstle, soft drink maker Coca-Cola European Partners and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi piled into Europe's bond market with new issues on Tuesday, suggesting that borrowers are increasingly eager and quick to react when the market shows any signs of stabilising.

Europe’s corporate bond new issue market burst back into life on Friday after a nine day coma with two emphatic, big, generously priced deals from impeccable issuers — exactly the pattern of issuance, although on a smaller scale, that the US market has produced on three days this week. Engie and Unilever raised €4.5bn between them, most of it from investors working at home amid coronavirus quarantines.

Despite current market turbulence, Kommuninvest, the funding body for Swedish local governments, still plans to press on with its debut euro green bond when volatility abates, according to its head of debt management.

Air France-KLM has taken a series of exceptional measures including drawing down on €1.765bn of bank debt, as some lenders say that the industries worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic will lean heavily on their lending banks.