Citi

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The breakneck speed of dollar corporate bond issuance continued this week, with lower rated investment grade borrowers dominating investors' attention as they came to the market to lock in attractive financing rates amid fears the credit rally may run out of steam.

Evidence is mounting that Enel’s $1.5bn sustainability-linked bond, issued last Thursday, introduced not just a new product, but a new market. In recent days the deal has generated intense interest, and Enel has committed to using the product extensively in future, writes Jon Hay.

KfW and the Asian Development Bank won huge praise from SSA bankers with rare 10 year dollar trades this week. The former issued the largest ever dollar green from a public sector borrower.

Nissan has sold upwards of $600m US private placements in the first US PP deal for any Japanese car company, according to several people familiar with the situation. Headline deals from car companies in both European and US private debt markets this year has led market players to believe private investors are taking a rather forgiving approach to the industry’s challenging moment. Silas Brown reports.

Russian pipe manufacturer Chelyabinsk Pipe Plant on Thursday sold one of the tightest ever Russian debut bonds, according to a lead manager on the note.

A trio of supranationals harnessed a lack of sterling supply to reopen the market this week. The World Bank brought the first fixed rate supranational deal since August, while the Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank both reopened Sonia-linked notes.

Mexican oil company Pemex is set to “defend its ratings” with an imminent new issue, bond exchange and buy-back to be partially funded by a capital injection from the government.

A pair of Eastern European corporate borrowers are in the market for dollar paper on Thursday, taking advantage of excellent market conditions to secure cheap funding.

Alpek, the petrochemicals business of Mexican conglomerate Grupo Alfa, sold a $500m 10 year bond on Wednesday at the tight end of expectations to become the latest in a line of Mexican issuers to tap the primary market in September.

Goldman Sachs and Citi have announced a dual currency eight year secured €1.5bn bond for Altice France, hoping to take advantage of low absolute rates to cut borrowing costs and extend its debt maturities. The bond-only deal follows Salt’s successful refinancing and dividend deal, which saw bonds come in appreciably cheaper than loans.

South Korean semiconductor manufacturer SK Hynix had to get over a number of hurdles for its $500m bond issuance, but a complicated price discovery process ended with the notes being in hot demand both in the primary and secondary markets. Addison Gong reports.