BNP Paribas

Argentina’s largest province, Buenos Aires (PBA), raised $1.5bn of five and 10 year bonds on Wednesday as investors showered love to the tune of $4.3bn upon the 120bp pick-up to the sovereign it paid.

If you were a bank chief executive, and your major competitors were signing $7bn legal settlements and asking investors for €13bn to burn on non-performing loans, you might think you deserved a breather. Apparently, you would be wrong.

Finland launched its first ever dual tranche deal on Wednesday, scoring €3bn with a five year leg and €1.5bn at 30 years. The issue comes on the heels of an immensely popular Belgian barbell printed on Tuesday.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten showed that investors in its dollar bonds are not overly concerned about an upcoming Dutch general election, as it priced a bond on Wednesday that was just $250m short of its record size in the currency. More public sector dollar supply is set for Thursday, after Asian Development Bank hired banks for a five year global benchmark.

Belgium defied turmoil afflicting European government bond spreads this week, pulling in big books for a dual tranche euro benchmark. The sovereign's success may have emboldened Finland to follow suit with its own barbell transaction.

Two public sector borrowers had very contrasting fortunes with no-grow three year dollar bond issues on a volatile Tuesday.

The Dutch covered bond issuer, Van Lanschot Bankiers has mandated leads for the first 10 year covered bond in nearly a month and the first Dutch conditional pass through (CPT) since May 2016. The deal emerges following a Fitch survey suggesting investors would like to see price differentiation between soft bullet and CPT maturities.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has pulled a three year dollar deal that was expected to be priced today.

French banks are expected to look closely at opportunities for issuance in the coming month, senior non-preferred bonds have started widening on the back of fresh election jitters in Europe, and opportunities could be limited as the French vote draws nearer.

BNP Paribas got a boost last month when it became just one of four foreign corporate debt underwriters in the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM). The French lender’s head of global markets for greater China, CG Lai, explained to GlobalRMB that the licence showcased the growing maturity of the onshore market with Panda bonds the key to their plans.

CT Corp company, Trans Retail Indonesia, has launched its $575m loan with seven mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners.

The market for public sector euro issuers is springing back to life after a quiet week, with two benchmarks printed on Monday and a sovereign dual tranche expected on Tuesday. But although traffic is returning, conditions are no longer as supportive as in January.