BNP Paribas

Hedge funds are buying payers in iTraxx Main with expiries in May or June and strikes around 90-and-95 basis points. The trade is designed to hedge against a potential widening of spreads in June.

Environmental sustainability consultancy ERM has cut 50bp off the margin of the $655m seven year first lien loan it is syndicating, with Deutsche Bank as arranger.

German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer has mandated three banks for a bridge loan to finance its $14.2bn acquisition of Merck & Co's consumer care business.

After plenty of speculation that Taiwan Cement Corp International (TCCI) will close its $1bn five year fundraising as a club deal, the borrower has done a u-turn by launching its loan into syndication last week.

Anglo-Swiss commodities group Glencore Xstrata is preparing to host a bank meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss refinancing a $17.3bn loan that it signed last year.

Chinese company Huawei Technologies is set to make its debut in the European loan syndications market for a $1bn revolving credit facility, and has picked a group of nine banks to arrange the fundraising.

Dutch chemicals group Stahl has signed €295m of credit facilities to fund its push to become the market leader in speciality chemicals for leather products.

Emerging markets-focused miner First Quantum is embarking on a roadshow for a $650m dollar denominated bond, returning to the market as a much larger company after the acquisition of Inmet last year.

Emerging markets-focused miner First Quantum has signed an oversubscribed $3bn two and five year loan facility that was increased by $500m when the syndication drew strong demand.

Bank of China Aviation printed a five year bond on Wednesday night as the issuer looks to solidify its presence in the market after it more than doubled the size of its EMTN programme last month.

Two more instalments in the unfolding saga of the corporate floating rate note appeared this week, with a €500m 4.9 year deal by Société des Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône on Tuesday and a €300m three year by Volkswagen Bank on Wednesday.

Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, continental Europe’s fixed income powerhouses, reported first quarter results this week, confirming the tough environment in debt trading. But Deutsche in particular, widely expected to take the brunt of the FICC downturn, escaped better than some of its US peers.