Citi

Israel Chemicals pulled in a $4.3bn book for its debut bond on Thursday, proving that quality still sells in a market where several deals have been pulled this week, including by KazStroyService on Monday and South Africa’s FirstRand Bank on Thursday.

Alibaba amassed a whopping $55bn of orders from investors for its landmark $8bn deal which ranks as the biggest G3 bond from an Asian ex Japan issuer. But some investors opted to stay on the sidelines after pricing was tightened up to 27bp across the six tranches.

Syndication for the $3.2bn portion of Tata Steel’s $5.6bn borrowing is progressing well, with the deal already receiving $750m worth of commitments, said a banker. Nine banks have committed so far and a handful more are expected to join before close.

High-grade issuers swamped the dollar market in the early part of the week trying to get in before Alibaba’s debut $8bn offering on Thursday while expecting a deluge of M&A related financings.

Auctions will be the main source of euro issuance from sovereigns, supranationals and agencies for the rest of the year, after the European Stability Mechanism this week opted against sounding banks for a syndication during its last deal window next week. But the market was strong for issuers that did come this week, with a pair of deals priced at the tight end of initial price thoughts.

Israel Chemicals has released initial price thoughts for a 10 year note, copying the form set by Israel Electric — which printed the same tenor on November 5.

Hapag-Lloyd, the German container shipping company, jumped into the high yield bond market on Thursday for a drive-by sale of a €250m bond, to refinance a deal maturing next year.

Alibaba was due to price its landmark bond in the early hours of Friday having launched final price guidance after Asian markets closed the night before. Bankers were staying tight lipped but investors said the deal could easily reach $10bn though debate was divided about what is fair value, write Lorraine Cushnie and Narae Kim.

Philippine conglomerate Ayala Corp’s blue chip reputation helped it net Ps12.35bn ($275m) in a hotly-received top-up placement on November 19, leading to the final offer being increased from an initial Ps8.98bn.

Reliance Jio Infocomm’s $1.5bn dual tranche loan that opened in September has been allocated among 26 lenders, 11 of which joined during general syndication. Thin pricing did not stop Taiwanese, Japanese and Middle Eastern lenders from piling into the deal, as it gave them a chance to form a relationship with India’s biggest private sector company.

Citi India has appointed UBS veteran Arvind Vashistha as head of equity capital markets for India.

Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries has offloaded all of its shares in industrial materials producer KCC Corp to net W415.2bn ($374m). Investors were extremely eager to get their hands on KCC’s stock because of its association with Cheil Industries, the de facto holding company of Samsung Group that is preparing for a chunky IPO.