Citi

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

The market for socially responsible investment (SRI) bonds is enjoying a burst of activity, as sub-sovereign borrowers from both sides of the Atlantic hit screens in green.

The European high yield bond market has rebooted after a February in which US firms dominated sales, with so many local issuers now coming forward that high yield bankers have started worrying that March could be overcrowded if the entire deal pipeline materialises.

The heat is on for IPOs in south-east Asia, with banks staging charm offensives towards investors during pre-marketing.

Events, including a rise in the probability of a March interest rate hike and US President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress, did not hold investors back from jumping into deals from Grand China Air, China Aircraft Leasing Group (CALC) and Hong Kong Express Airways (HK Express) on Tuesday.

Borrowers that ventured out to the Asia debt market on Wednesday should consider themselves lucky as the competition turned fierce on Thursday with six live deals. Beijing Properties (Holdings) and China Everbright Bank Hong Kong were among the names that managed to get ahead of the supply deluge.

Tuesday turned out to be a big day for aviation related companies with Grand China Air, China Aircraft Leasing Group and Hong Kong Express Airways venturing out with their respective bonds, raising a combined $810m.

Beijing Properties (Holdings), China Everbright Bank and Olam International were vying for investors’ attention on Wednesday in what is a busy week for dollar issuance in Asia ex-Japan.

KfW and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development took full advantage of a strong environment to sell dollar benchmarks on Tuesday. Further dollar issuance is rumoured this week — with conditions so good that deals may come despite potential volatility from US president Donald Trump making his first speech to Congress during the New York evening on Tuesday night.

Sustainability bonds are the flavour of the week for regional issuers, as the State of North Rhine-Westphalia smashed the size record for sub-sovereign SRI bonds on Tuesday and Île-de-France hit screens to announce its own socially responsible investment bond.

French pharmaceuticals firm Ethypharm increased the sterling tranche in its term loan package on Tuesday, as it seeks to acquire UK-based Martindale Pharma.

South Korea’s Hyundai Capital Services timed its $600m outing well, thriving on its strong name recognition and the variety it added to the debt market to put together a fairly priced deal.