BNP Paribas

IDBI Bank returned to the dollar bond market on Wednesday morning, providing investors with a popular alternative to the high volume of Chinese credits seen so far this year.

SBI Capital Markets has joined as a mandated lead arranger and bookrunner on its parent State Bank of India’s $390m loan ahead of a general launch on March 18, but is yet to commit a firm amount.

GDF Suez, the French gas and electricity group, has launched a €5bn loan facility into the market, seeking to refinance debt early to take advantage of low loan margins.

ArcelorMittal raised €750m of five year notes today, in its first bond issue since announcing the call of its hybrid bond in January.

Piraeus Bank has built a blowout book for its three year bond, in a transaction that could herald the coming of a wider array of peripheral borrowers.

Volatility arbitrage and multi-strategy hedge funds have been hedging potential China macro tail risk by going long volatility via volatility spreads that reference the HSCEI and the S&P 500.

Indonesia’s CT Corp has wrapped up syndication of its $1.275bn fundraising, netting commitments worth $555m from a group of 19 banks.

Hong Kong-listed Citic Pacific hit the market with a HK$8.8bn ($1.13bn) loan on the evening of March 17, with bankers on the transaction expecting a quick turnaround from lenders considering the deal in syndication.

Rallye, the unrated French holding company that owns 49% of Casino, the French supermarket chain, and 90% of retailer Groupe Go Sport, launched a bond issue today that investors jumped on, relishing its 4% yield. The €300m issue was increased to €500m.

After a week of booming issuance in the senior market, macroeconomic concerns have taken full grip. The market had initially refused to bend to concerns over political upheaval in Turkey and the standoff between Russia and Ukraine.

Carrefour Banque managed to brave and overcome the broad market turmoil that set in during the second half of last week, pricing its €500m senior unsecured floating rate note to become the only European senior issuer in the market on Friday.

BNP Paribas is often lauded, and is rather proud of, its fine selection of wines and cheeses for in-house dining. But Alexandra Basirov, co-head of SSA DCM, found a new client feasting on the bank’s wares on Thursday.