BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas has promoted Christopher Bond to head up its FIG debt capital markets business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Terna, the Italian high voltage grid operator, returned to the corporate bond market on Thursday, for the third time this year. It joined a steady procession of Italian companies that have been issuing bonds, taking advantage of the present benign market conditions, with an eye to the risk of volatility blighting their market access in the autumn.

A subsidiary of Indonesian textile company Duniatex missed an interest payment on a $260m syndicated loan last week, causing the bond price of its sister company to collapse and bankers to wonder about the wider health of the sector. Pan Yue reports.

Investors pumped €2.25bn of demand into Italgas’s €600m 10 year note on Wednesday, leaving the deal nearly four times covered. That was despite a soft economic background and the more muted €1bn of demand Goodman European Partnership, the logistics Reit, had got on Monday for its €400m 10 year no-grow bond.

Italy’s Salini Impregilo is pushing ahead with plans to buy compatriot troubled construction rival Astaldi after getting the preliminary nod from financiers, with the acquiring company set to raise €600m among a raft of funding agreements.

Europe's corporate bond market is sauntering towards the holidays at a gentle pace, with spreads slightly wider and no one in a hurry. But deals are still available for issuers that want them.

Heavy bond supply last week from Chinese property developers took a toll on Fantasia Holdings Group Co, which failed to tighten pricing on a $200m bond on Monday. But China Hongqiao Group, an aluminium maker, found solid response from investors due to a lack of issuance from industrial credits.

Acciona, the Spanish infrastructure and renewable energy company, appealed to investors with its green, triple tranche Schuldschein offering, which closed last week at €155m.

Despite the gloomy macro-economic outlook, conditions remained good for corporate bond issuers in Europe this week. Investor appetite was high and supply low, as some bankers, investors and issuers holidayed, and issuers headed into earnings blackout periods.

BNP Paribas has hired a former executive director at Natixis to lead its sustainable capital markets team for Asia Pacific.

Budweiser Brewing Company Apac shelved what could have been the largest float globally so far this year and the biggest in nearly a decade in Hong Kong after investors rejected its punchy valuation target, dealing a blow to the city’s IPO market.

Budweiser Brewing Apac has delayed pricing its jumbo float on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to a source at the company.