Citi

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.

Shanghai Junshi Biosciences has raised HK$3.08bn ($394.2m) after pricing its IPO at the bottom of the range, according to a banker on the deal.

Citi is pulling out of its China securities joint venture. It gave its partner notice at the end of last week.

Equate Group, the Kuwaiti petrochemical producer, has amended and extended its $1.9bn term loan and $1bn revolving credit facility, achieving a reduction in pricing and strong demand from international lenders.

Danish logistics company Maersk gave investors something other than political and economic matters to consider this week when it announced a tender offer for its shortest dated euro bonds on Monday. If the current poor tone in the bond markets continues into 2019, this type of exercise could become more prevalent, writes Nigel Owen.

Shanghai Junshi Biosciences kicked off bookbuilding this week for a potential HK$3.24bn ($414.4m) IPO and by Thursday had the float covered across the price range, according to a banker on the deal.