BNP Paribas

French engineering consultancy Altran has set the term on its €750m rights issue to finance its acquisition of US global design and engineering company Aricent.

Spanish utility Iberdrola had significant success with its debut green hybrid bond in November when it received €3.2bn of orders. However, its second such bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts when it was issued this week.

As the final week of the quarter approaches, credit markets are limping towards the Easter break, in need of respite after three months of heavy issuance punctuated by flares of volatility. Nigel Owen reports.

The auto finance arm of General Motors opted for short maturities to try to ensure the success of its first bond sale of 2018, but the €1bn dual-tranche deal only received orders of €1.7bn and the lead managers were only able to tighten one of the tranches from initial price thoughts.

Glencore, the Swiss-based mining and commodities group, issued a $500m seven year equity-neutral convertible bond on Tuesday that achieved terms described as very aggressive. It attracted around 100 investors, including a couple of sovereign wealth funds.

Covered bond specialists are eager to find out whether the European Central Bank’s lower than expected participation in recent covered bond issues is part of a long term plan or is merely a short term reaction to other events.

The Kingdom of Bahrain has announced the only new CEEMEA bond mandate of the week so far, looking for a multi-tranche benchmark deal to follow its storming last foray into the international bond markets in September.

Asia’s dollar bond issuers were back in the market on Thursday after taking a pause during the US Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week.

Details have emerged on £1.5bn of underwritten loans for the UK’s Phoenix Group, as the life assurance fund consolidator moves closer to its £3.24bn cash and shares purchase of Standard Life Aberdeen’s insurance arm.

Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Co (Ratch) made a rare appearance in the debt market on Tuesday, raising $300m at a tight price thanks to its scarcity appeal.

Glencore, the Swiss commodities trading and mining company, has breathed some life into Europe's equity-linked market with a $500m equity-neutral convertible bond due in 2025.

Virgin Media raised £300m from a receivables financing note this week, a deal that despite being more complex than normal high yield bonds, was liked by fund managers.