BNP Paribas

Worldline, the French payments company, attracted strong investor demand for a negative-yielding €600m convertible bond due in 2026, to refinance its acquisition of a minority stake in equensWorldline, its transaction processing subsidiary.

Optivo has become the latest UK housing association to sign a bank debt facility, with the borrower the first in recent weeks from its sector to use a sustainability-linked loan margin.

It was set of gruelling results for Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment bank on Wednesday, with revenues from debt underwriting, equity underwriting, advisory and equity trading all underperforming peers that have already posted figures. Meanwhile, the group as a whole recorded substantial charges from its restructuring plans but said this would not impact its capital ratio much.

Banca Popolare di Sondrio tapped the FIG euro market this week, looking to bolster its subordinated capital buffer. The issuer had to pay an expensive coupon of 6.25% on the notes, but with this issuance it fulfils its minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

FedEx has returned to the euro market for the second time in 2019. Having issued a €640m 3.3 year back in January, the Baa2/BBB US logistics company printed a €1bn six and 12-year dual-tranche on Monday. After a drop in reverse Yankee issuance last year, the euro market has proven attractive to US issuers this year, with a steady stream of deals through the first half of 2019.

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.