BNP Paribas

Fiat priced €500m of bonds on Thursday, as it tapped its 2022 notes amid a market buoyed by the European Central Bank’s announcement that it would cut interest rates to a new low.

Europe’s corporate bond market burst into full scale action on Wednesday, after two weeks of sporadic new issuance. A €3bn deal from Sanofi, the French pharmaceuticals company, was joined by €1bn from Toyota Motor Credit Corp, €500m from property company Foncière des Régions and yet another small deal from Volvo (see separate stories).

Swiss Re drew an almost four times oversubscribed order book for a debut dated dollar subordinated debt issue on Thursday. The deal showed that appetite for sub debt remains robust among investors, even following starkly reduced demand for additional tier one paper deals from Santander and UniCredit earlier this week.

Senior unsecured supply for the autumn kicked off this week, with Deutsche Bank and Nykredit becoming the first banks to issue senior debt this month. With little recent supply, bankers away from the deals found themselves in disagreement over whether the leads had hit optimal pricing for the deals.

The wave of acquisition financings kicked off this week as Marathon Petroleum exploited the recent sharp rally rates and caught investors in eager mood following the August lull.

Fiat priced €500m of bonds today, as it tapped its 2022 notes at the heart of a market buoyed by the European Central Bank’s announcement that it would cut interest rates to a new low.

Alfa Laval, the Swedish maker of fluid handling machinery, attracted very strong demand on Thursday when it returned to the bond market after a long absence — even though it came on the same day as a hotly anticipated press conference of the European Central Bank.

Bookrunners were quick to point the finger at Korea Development Bank (KDB) after its new bond this week drew few orders and then sold off in secondary. But while KDB acknowledged the $750m deal had been priced aggressively, the issuer said it was following strategies recommend by its syndicate banks, writes Virginia Furness.

Swiss Re drew an almost four times oversubscribed order book for its debut dated dollar sub print on Thursday, with leads pricing the deal inside of initial price thoughts. The deal shows that appetite for sub debt remains robust among investors, even following starkly reduced demand in the market for additional tier one paper for prints from Santander and UniCredit earlier this week.

Mexican building material suppliers and cement producer Cemex is selling euro and dollar bonds to fund the buyback of the company’s dollar 2018s and 2020s. The Reg S/144A notes will be priced later on Thursday.

Mobile phone maker Xiaomi launched its $1bn dual tranche loan into general on Tuesday afternoon, following a successful senior phase during which 17 banks joined for the bookrunner and mandated lead arranger title.

Wednesday would have been the busiest day for European corporate bond issuance since the August break, even without Sanofi’s €3bn stormer.