Citi

Xerox has secured $24bn in financing for its unsolicited debt backed bid for rival technology company HP, as the acquisitive firm looks to quell HP shareholder worries about how it will fund the jumbo deal.

Bahrain Mumtalakat, the country's sovereign wealth fund, is embarking on a roadshow with plans to print a seven year dollar sukuk. A syndicate official away from the deal called the move “courageous” given the political volatility in the Middle East.

A number of Chinese real estate companies kicked off their refinancing for 2020 on Monday, with higher rated issuers tapping longer-dated bonds and the weaker names actively engaging in liability management.

The Export-Import Bank of India clinched $1bn from a 10 year bond on Monday, riding on investor enthusiasm for deals from the country.

Chinese artificial intelligence company Megvii Technology is moving forward with its plan to list in Hong Kong, after getting the go-ahead from the city’s stock exchange, according to two sources close to the transaction.

The pipeline is starting to fill in the public sector bond market with the European Investment Bank and Kommunalbanken set to bring dollar deals and KfW preparing its first euro benchmark of the year. More deals — including the first sovereign syndication of the year— are set to follow this week.

KfW broke new ground in the sterling bond market on Monday by bringing its largest ever benchmark in the currency. Kommunalbanken is looking to latch on to the red hot market too after picking banks to lead a new December 2024 trade.

Norwegian oil exploration and production company Aker BP is positioning itself as an investment grade issuer with a new dual tranche dollar mandate, with a call targeting bond buyers with IG mandates, and an unsecured issue structure. The company received its second IG rating last November.

Asian bond issuers went full speed ahead with their fundraising plans on Monday, launching new deals ahead of Chinese New Year holidays at the end of the month.

The European Investment Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank amassed strong demand from investors to kick off their funding programmes for the year on Friday, with the former receiving the biggest ever order book in the sterling supranational and agency bond market, according to the leads.

The Federal State of Lower Saxony sold the first euro public sector benchmark of 2020 with a well received 10 year deal on Thursday. Meanwhile, the European Investment Bank is keeping to tradition of beginning its benchmark funding for the year in sterling.

The end of 2019 was a bumper time for equity block trades in EMEA. After many of these accelerated trades generated strong, market-beating returns for investors, banks are hoping funds will have goodwill towards the market, supporting a strong start to 2020.