BNP Paribas

UK energy company SSE opened up the week’s issuance for corporate bonds on Tuesday, overcoming less-than-ideal market conditions to gather a solidly oversubscribed order book for an eight year bond.

Rating: Aaa/AA+/AAA

KfW showed public sector issuers exactly what it takes to get euro investors reaching into their pockets this week — a hefty new issue premium, writes Tessa Wilkie.

The corporate bond pipeline for September swelled rapidly over the course of this week, with no less than six companies hiring banks for roadshows in the near future.

Since Yann Gérardin took over as boss of the investment bank at BNP Paribas, the bank has been all about combinations. Strip out the corporate speak, and the big changes are a merger of equities and fixed income in the markets division, and a merger of loans and bonds in primary markets. GlobalCapital caught up with Renaud-Franck Falce, who runs the combined corporate debt team, to find out how the new approach is working.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel has burst back into the market shortly after a summer blackout, raising €600m with a spree of floating rate medium term notes.

The Schuldschein for German healthcare group, Asklepios has been increased from €250m to around €600m after oversubscription from investors, according to a banker on the deal.

A large financing for the acquisition of Tesco’s South Korean asset, Homeplus, has created a stir in the market, coming amid a dearth of private equity-backed leveraged deals in Asia. But the role of foreign banks may be limited by abundant onshore liquidity and the presence of domestic funds, which are keen to take on junior debt, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Public sector benchmark issuance snapped back after extreme volatility in credit and equity markets early this week, but bankers are concerned about the depth of demand in the currency.

Finland priced a €3bn 10 year deal a day after global markets were rocked by a big sell-off in Chinese equities. But the investor response to the deal had some bankers saying the issuer should have waited.

Two rare issuers announced plans to issue euro debt on Tuesday, with Swisscom mandating for its third ever deal and Pentair hiring banks for a possible debut in the currency.

Financing for three rival bids to acquire Tesco’s South Korean asset Homeplus feature a senior-junior split, according to market sources. One of the contenders is also said to have secured a letter of commitment from a local pension fund, considered unusual as such funds usually throw their weight behind bidders once they have emerged as the winner.