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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development set a new pricing bar for 2018 in five year dollars on Wednesday as it equalled its largest ever dollar benchmark size. Municipality Finance was also out in the same tenor, with a trade that leads said had a concession of 2bp-3bp.

Europe’s syndicated loans bankers say recent transactions highlight how cut-throat the market is for lenders, as the European Commission gets under way with a study on market practices.

Before 2017, US crowd services provider Equinix had not issued a bond in euros. But it has now visited the European high yield market three times, having completed its latest deal on Wednesday.

The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has mandated eight banks to roadshow a benchmark five year Reg S sukuk with a view to adding a 10 year tranche as well.

Equity capital markets are enjoying heightened activity this week with a number of block trades hitting the pipeline and three IPOs launched on Monday.

Seplat Petroleum Development, a Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company, is lining up its first international bond which will also be the first non-financial corporate bond from Africa this year.

The State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine printed its local currency bond on Tuesday, but needed to pay an eye-watering 16.5% coupon to do so.

Housing Development Finance Corp has raised Rp19bn ($291.3m) from a fixed price qualified institutional placement, according to a banker that worked on the transaction.

Bond investors are embracing Korean Air Lines Co (KAL) after its successful debt outing in June last year. In its $300m comeback deal on Tuesday, the company managed to find demand from a group of new investors.

Chinese video streaming platform iQiyi filed a draft IPO prospectus with the US market regulator on Tuesday. It is aiming to raise up to $1.5bn from its listing this year.

FMS Wertmanagement on Tuesday took advantage of widening swap spreads to equal the tightest spread to mid-swaps on a five year benchmark so far this year — a level that was “very tight” to KfW, said bankers on the trade. Two other borrowers are lining up to try their luck in the tenor — including one that is aiming for an even tighter spread.

Three public sector borrowers hit screens in euros on Tuesday, taking advantage of a hot market to offer zero or limited new issue premiums.