BNP Paribas

Maple Leaf Educational Systems priced its IPO near the top of the range to raise HK$1.11bn ($142.57m), in a deal which saw massive interest from retail investors tip the scale in their favour.

Thursday was a busy day for European investment grade corporate bonds, with €4.9bn issued in euros and sterling. But with a great deal of diversity of issuers, maturities and currencies, the market had more appetite for some than for others.

Wienerberger, the world’s largest brick maker, has replaced two lines of credit with a €400m five year revolver.

Fluxys Belgium, the gas transmission system operator, priced a €250m 15 year bond on Thursday, but demand for longer dated unrated paper was so strong that the company decided to add a €100m 20 year tranche in response to reverse enquiry.

Tata Motors, which mandated DBS, Standard Chartered and State Bank of India for a $250m seven year new money deal, may opt not to do the loan at all, following the success of a $750m dual tranche bond it priced in October.

Syndication for the $3.2bn portion of Tata Steel’s $5.6bn borrowing is progressing well, with the deal already receiving $750m worth of commitments, said a banker. Nine banks have committed so far and a handful more are expected to join before close.

Two US blue chips issued a combined €4.8bn of bonds a day apart this week, demonstrating the euro market's attractiveness to US issuers and its capacity to absorb large amounts of paper. Bankers expect more US companies to dive in soon, while the swap market remains favourable.

AT&T, the US's largest telecoms company, returned to the euro bond market on Thursday, a day after technology firm IBM, this time with a whopping €3.8bn three tranche deal.

Three issuers from France, Belgium and Germany raised €2.5bn in the covered bond market this week, and another €1bn transaction was expected from a Finnish issuer on Friday. The deals were all remarkable for the fact that the funding levels set new records for all issuers as the ECB’s allocation continued to grow, squeezing out other investors.

United Internet — Vimpelcom — Geberit

A short window of issuance is open for borrowers with dollar benchmarks to do ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday next week that heralds the traditional close of the market.

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas's shareholders approved a €1bn capital increase at an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Thursday in Barcelona, allowing the Spanish building and environmental services company to begin restructuring a €4.5bn loan.