Citi

As is becoming traditional in the European corporate bond market, car finance issuers sold the first new issues of the year. The fact the market had to wait just one day was a positive, considering that the backdrop was largely unchanged from the end of 2018, when the market had been difficult to access. However, there were some warning signs other issuers will do well to heed.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

The European Investment Bank and KfW comfortably raised a combined £2.25bn on Thursday after receiving whopping investor demand for benchmark trades. This Friday is set to add to the sterling glut, with deals from the Asian Development Bank, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten and Swedish Export Credit Corporation.

Uzbekistan could announce roadshow dates as early as next week, having put ratings in place and picked banks for its debut Eurobond.

The European corporate bond market had to wait just one day for the first new issue of 2019. Some participants had expected volatility in the global financial markets to result in a blank first week for corporates, but finance subsidiaries of Renault and Toyota opted to start their financing for the year on Thursday.

KfW and the European Investment Bank mandated banks on Wednesday for the first sterling SSA deals of the year. Public sector borrowers are looking to pile into the sterling market before the crunch vote by the UK Parliament on Theresa May’s Brexit deal in mid-January, with deals expected in both Sonia-linked and fixed rate formats.

Russian shipping firm Sovcomflot has closed a $264m club facility with five international lenders, although the outlook for Russian companies in the syndicated loan market remains questionable going into the new year.

Asian issuers are setting the stage for their fundraisings nice and early into the New Year, with South Korea’s Hanwha Total Petrochemical Co announcing a bond mandate on Wednesday morning.

The global high yield bond market has produced $320bn of new issues in 2018, up to December 21, 43% down on last year’s total of $563bn, according to Dealogic. Sentiment has turned progressively more bearish as the year has worn on, with concerns about US-China trade hostility and overvaluation of US equities biting.

GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have agreed to combine their consumer health businesses to create a market leading joint venture with sales of around £9.8bn. The companies expect to divest assets to cover the cash cost of the integration.

Danish logistics company Maersk opted to please all of its investors who tendered bonds as part of the company’s recent liability management exercise when it announced on Tuesday that it had increased the total amount it would buy back.

Shanghai Henlius Biotech has joined a growing pipeline of biotechnology firms planning to float in Hong Kong. It wants to list in the first quarter of 2019, said a banker working on the transaction.