BNP Paribas

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten this week capitalised on movements in short end dollar rates to print its largest trade in nearly two years. It was the solitary dollar benchmark this week, but with the Chinese New Year holidays out of the way and Asian investors back at their desks, bankers expect supply to pick up next week and for the very short end to still be the place to be.

Yankee banks shunned the short end of the curve this week as they returned to the dollar market after reporting earnings.

French property companies were in vogue this week as Icade sold its fourth corporate bond in two years, further extending its redemption profile, while Mercialys, the firm spun off from supermarkets group Casino, saw its sub-benchmark deal 2.5 times oversubscribed.

Ence, the Spanish biomass energy company, finalised a €160m equity-linked bond on Thursday to fund the voluntary redemption of an earlier straight bond.

Borrowers have broken the 10 day spell without a deal in the European high yield market, and are coming back with refinancing deals. Faurecia, the French car parts manufacturer, opened the new batch with a refinancing deal on Thursday.

The equity capital market has kicked back into life this week with a number of high profile deals to test investor appetite. But with investors challenging IPO valuations and volatility causing a scare, lead managers might have to start selling deals on their fundamentals rather than relying on bullish market sentiment to do the job.

Intesa Sanpaolo is looking to become the first ever Italian bank to sell a deal in the Tokyo Pro-Bond format, less than two weeks away from a general election in Italy which has made some investors nervous.

French issuers ALD and Mercialys continued the triple-B theme of the week in the investment grade corporate bond market when the pair announced new deals on Tuesday. These followed three BBB+ rated credits on Monday.

Turkey’s Akbank has the sole attention of EM investors on Tuesday as it looks to price its second Basel III compliant tier two transaction.

Siemens has begun the IPO process for the highly anticipated spin-off of its health division, Siemens Healthineers, by releasing its intention to float document.

A jump in US Treasury yields following a higher than expected US inflation print could boost long end dollar supply from SSAs said bankers, although investors might be keen for concerns over inflation to die down first. Meanwhile, issuers have been focusing on short dated arbitrage style trades with benchmark issuance limited this week — and likely next week — due to the Chinese New Year holidays.

ANZ raised €750m this week from its first bond aligned with the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), marking only the second such deal globally.