BNP Paribas

Shurgard Safe Storage, the largest self storage property company in Europe, has begun bookbuilding for its flotation on Euronext Brussels, with a price range that values the company at a premium to its closest peers

Corporate dollar bond issuance ended a bumper month with a whimper as borrowers fought shy either side of the Fed’s September meeting.

When UK telecoms company Vodafone announced in May that it had agreed to buy some of US rival Liberty Global’s European operations, it said it would use existing cash, €3bn of mandatorily convertible bonds and new debt, including hybrid bonds to fund the €18.4bn acquisition. On Wednesday, Vodafone sold the hybrid bonds, using four different tenors in three currencies. Nigel Owen reports.

French electricity utility EDF continued a busy September with the first hybrid corporate bond deal in the euro market for more than two months on Tuesday. It also sold a new senior trade in euros, following a $3.75bn triple tranche deal in the US the previous week.

French certification agency Bureau Veritas had its credentials stamped by investors on Thursday when it sold its third deal in three years. The unrated issuer received €1bn of demand for its €500m long six year deal.

BNP Paribas Fortis managed to get an oversubscribed order book for its seven year covered bond and priced the deal inside the previous Belgian issue from ING. However, the deal was unusually slow to build and, with market conditions deteriorating, spreads are expected to widen.

When UK telecoms company Vodafone announced in May that it had agreed to buy some of US rival Liberty Global’s European operations, it said it would use existing cash, €3bn of mandatorily convertible bonds and new debt, including hybrid bonds to fund the €18.4bn acquisition. On Wednesday, Vodafone sold the hybrid bonds, using four different tenors in three currencies.

Midea Real Estate Holdings has launched its Hong Kong IPO, which could raise up to HK$3.87bn ($495.4m).

French electricity utility EDF sold the first hybrid corporate bond deal in the euro market for more than two months on Tuesday, as it launched a tender offer for its existing hybrids with the aim of maintaining its existing volume of outstanding bonds.

Bain Capital is preparing to test whether sentiment towards French IPOs has improved post-summer, by floating Consolis, the concrete producer, on Euronext Paris.

General Electric’s distributed power unit began marketing a $1.8bn leveraged buyout loan. The deal has high net leverage and tight pricing guidance, two of the possible risks in the market underlined by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) this week.

BNP Paribas has hired Nomura's John Bigham as a senior banker, to boost its strategic UK coverage.