Canada

The Province of Alberta on Wednesday passed its first bond market test since suffering a double downgrade from S&P in May. Bankers away from the trade said it was a “good outcome”, despite having to pay a bit of concession — unlike most other dollar deals over the last few weeks.

Sweden on Tuesday printed a dollar benchmark at one of the tightest spreads to mid-swaps from a public sector issuer this year, as a Canadian province prepared to bring a deal in the currency further out the curve.

British Columbia has hired Bank of China (BOC) for its second Panda deal, GlobalRMB has learned. Meanwhile, Hungary has chosen BOC and HSBC for a long-awaited Panda debut with a prospectus expected on Friday.

A surfeit of sterling liquidity drove demand for covered bonds to new heights this week with exceptional deal executions seen in two Canadian bank transactions, raising the likelihood that a UK bank will soon follow.

On Tuesday, Bank of Montreal (BMO) issued the largest sterling covered bond from an overseas bank in almost three years at the tightest spread of any sterling covered bond in over two years. The level BMO achieved was far cheaper than would have been possible in euros or dollars.

Atlas Mara, the London-listed company co-founded by Bob Diamond that invests in African financial services, announced a $200m equity capital raising on Wednesday, most of which will be taken up by Fairfax Africa Holdings Corp.

Guarantor: CPP Investment Board

Remarkably supportive conditions in the euro market allowed some rare SSA names to pull off strong deals this week, including a debut in the currency and a return from a two year hiatus.

Public sector borrowers could bring deals in euros and dollars next week, said SSA bankers, although supply is likely to be fairly muted with many funding officials descending on London for the annual Euromoney Global Borrowers conference.

All the action in the SSA bond markets switched to euros on Wednesday morning with the US Federal Reserve's imminent decision on interest rates quieting the dollar market.

A trio of euro borrowers launched trades and a fourth picked banks on Tuesday in a market buoyed by a perceived renewal of European political unity following welcome results in elections in France and Italy at the weekend.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten slam-dunked a single day euro execution on Monday into a market buzzing from a pair of eurozone election results over the weekend. Another two issuers have lined up euro deals — including one debut.