BNP Paribas

Europe’s corporate bond market was knocked sideways on Thursday by a gust of fear about peripheral Europe, after problems deepened at Portugal's Banco Espírito Santo. The market has not shut down, but ACS, the Spanish construction company, pulled a deal and no issuer managed to price tighter than its initial thoughts.

Private healthcare group Générale de Santé will hold a bank meeting this week for a €1.1bn loan to back its takeover by Ramsay Santé.

The US investment grade corporate bond market endured a rare day of zero issuance on Thursday as a market sell-off triggered by the troubles of Portugal’s Banco Espírito Santo kept borrowers at bay.

Italian defence contractor Finmeccanica has signed a €2.2bn revolving credit facility, €200m smaller than the 2010 facility being refinanced.

European banks are so anxious to comply with US sanctions law that in some cases, they are interpreting the rules more strictly than US banks, and even occasionally losing business by it, several bankers said this week. Jon Hay and Michael Turner report.

Fjord Line — Det Norske — Volvo

Nationwide on Tuesday became the third British financial institution to offer a three year floating rate note (FRN) in covered format this year. Looking to harness the remnants of the momentum it built in the market during its dual tranche euro deal at the end of last month, the building society’s deal was more oversubscribed than the other two similar deals done this year — from Abbey and Lloyds Bank — which were priced in January.

Zurich Insurance cast a wide net to catch as many investors as possible with its first senior Swiss franc print of 2014 on Tuesday, offering three tranches to sell a total Sfr600m ($670.8m) of fixed and floating rate notes.

French hotel chain B&B Hotels has allocated a €175m senior secured loan that will refinance existing debt.

Times Property Holdings made its third appearance in the international bond market this year on July 9, with a Rmb900m dim sum. The substantial handle attracted strong support from yield hungry investors and enabled the borrower to price well inside its existing curve.

Six banks have been mandated for Indian company Rural Electrification Corp’s latest fundraising, which was originally touted as a $100m deal but has already been increased to $230m.

Asian bond issuers just can't get enough of the euro market. This week it was the turn of India's ONGC Videsh to tap the currency, but it did so in unexpected fashion, launching a dual tranche dollar deal and tacking on a debut euro leg late in the process. From a pricing perspective, the tactic looked to have paid off — and the $2.2bn-equivalent deal was India's biggest G3 issue, writes Virginia Furness.