BNP Paribas

Despite heavy volatility in the equity markets, in fixed income, public sector bond issuers had an excellent week. A cool €10bn hit the market in tenors from five to 15 years and from all parts of the spectrum within the asset class. Lewis McLellan reports.

After being sidelined by volatility in the equity market this week, Greece made it to market on Thursday with a €3bn seven year.

A plunge in global stock prices at the start of the week only closed the European investment grade corporate bond market for a day before Novartis attracted €6.5bn of combined demand for a triple tranche offering.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever has become known in the corporate bond markets for its multiple tranche deals. Its latest deal is its third such trade in the last three years, and investors showed they still have plenty of appetite for the name, helping the company print its largest ever deal, despite market turmoil in the US.

GlobalCapital revealed the winners of its 2017 Loan Awards at its annual Loans and Leveraged Finance Awards Dinner at Gibson Hall in London on February 7. The full results are below: GlobalCapital congratulates all the winners and nominees.

The €478m IPO of Instone Real Estate, the German home builder, is covered at its full size, less than four working days into the bookbuild.

The plunge in global stock prices has only caused the European investment grade corporate bond market to close for one day. On Wednesday, two pharmaceutical companies from different ends of the the ratings spectrum brought multi-tranche deals which attracted more than €9.5bn of combined demand.

Greece, which on Monday announced its intention to sell a seven year, kept away from markets because of wide swings in European govvie spreads — a decision lauded by bankers away from the transaction. Dimitris Tsakonas, head of funding at the Greece's Public Debt Management Agency, spoke to GlobalCapital.

A pair of euro borrowers braved a tricky market on Tuesday, raising a combined €4bn despite heavy weather in government spreads. One opted for a defensive pricing strategy, while the other attempted to squeeze investors.

US oil and gas company Kosmos Energy, which operates in Africa, has refinanced a reserve-based lending facility signed in 2015.

The Belgian Debt Agency announced on Monday that it would issue its first green OLO in the near future, after a roadshow that begins on Thursday February 8. This fulfils a plan announced by prime minister Charles Michel at the One Planet Summit in December.

Since Greece’s debt exchange operation in November, market participants have been expecting a return either at three years or seven years. Monday’s mandate brought the answer.