BNP Paribas

Ascential, the UK media and events company, scaled back lenders after its £450m-equivalent bank line refinancing was oversubscribed.

The European Stability Mechanism has requested its primary dealers or ‘market group banks’ to set up entities within the 27 member states of the European Union in order for them to participate in bond auctions by the supranational and its sister issuer, the European Financial Stability Facility.

Spain has announced another trip to the ultra-long end, electing to come to market in spite of volatility sparked by increased fears around the spread of coronavirus.

Three Chinese issuers visited the dollar bond market on Thursday, raising $1.2bn between them.

BMW Automotive Finance’s Rmb8bn ($1.14bn) dual-tranche return to the Chinese auto ABS market this week was a success. The tight pricing is expected to allow other issuers to also lower their coupons, said bankers on the deal.

Intense demand in the Swiss franc bond market for any asset with a positive yield — or even anything yielding more than the penal negative rates on cash — gave a varied group of issuers this week execution that pushed the boundaries — bigger, faster and tighter.

ING left its investors bemused on Wednesday, when it decided to pull the additional tier one (AT1) bond it was marketing on the basis of undisclosed information it had received. After the news of its chief executive’s move to UBS quickly became public, the door was left open for the bank to complete the trade.

BNP Paribas this week set a new record low for an additional tier one (AT1) coupon issued from a European bank in the dollar market, raising $1.75bn amid heady demand for the product. Iceland’s Arion Bank was also in the market, chipping in with a $100m deal ahead of beneficial domestic tax changes.

One of February’s few dollar issuers hit screens on Thursday, raising $1bn of five year cash at an impressive spread.

US bond market tourists poured into high grade euros this week, where tiny concessions and a cheap overall cost of funding saw a string of successful trades.

Ontario Teachers’ Finance Trust has chosen four banks to organise a series of meetings with euro fixed income investors, ahead of what will be the issuer’s first bond in the currency.

Cadent Gas, the UK gas distribution network spun off by National Grid in 2017, will roadshow from Tuesday next week for a €500m transition bond. The deal is likely to delight green bond specialists who have championed the idea of transition bonds as a way to finance companies that are not green, but are moving towards lower carbon business models.