Citi

Citi has expanded its Asia coverage desks to keep up with the growing number of multinational corporations from the region.

On an extraordinary day in the capital markets, a very ordinary corporate bond was issued on Wednesday — a €500m 8.5 year issue for Snam, the Italian gas transport group, that was nicely oversubscribed and closed trading at reoffer.

Supranationals and agencies are eyeing deals in Australian dollars and could come before the week is out, following a curve extending bond from the Australian sovereign, although turbulent capital markets could make some pause for thought.

A cacophony of troublesome macro conditions are rocking the markets and could make issuance exceptionally tricky for issuers looking to print dollars in the coming weeks. A pair of borrowers felt the pain on Wednesday, with their leads setting pricing in line with initial price thoughts and at least one of the deals undersubscribed — a far cry from a series of blow-out dollar trades since the market reopened after the summer.

German ball bearing producer Schaeffler will close books on its €1.8bn-equivalent term loan ‘B’ today. Early signs are that investors have received the familiar credit enthusiastically.

Society of Lloyd’s wrested investors' attention away from the geopolitical woes and equity market travails on Wednesday, mandating banks for a roadshow ahead of what would be its first capital markets appearance in more than seven years.

Subordinated perpetual bond issuance from Asian insurers is on the increase with a second insurer looking to follow Korean Reinsurance to the market next week. The low rate environment is proving conducive for high beta products like sub perps, according to bankers.

ZF Friedrichshafen, the German car parts maker, has closed the books on the syndication of its €12.5bn loan for the acquisition of Michigan-based TRW Automotive.

Citi is posting the widest lead in volumes of CEEMEA bonds arranged since 2011, meaning the US bank is odds-on favourite to finish 2014 at the top of the table. But though the gap will be difficult for JP Morgan to close by December, figures from previous years show that it is not impossible.

E-CL, the largest power generator in the north of Chile, finishes the roadshow for its dollar bond on Wednesday.

Indonesian conglomerate Astra International is close to winding up a $300m club loan with eight lenders.

A portion of Tata Steel’s $5.6bn borrowing, which has been in senior syndication since July, finally launched into general on October 13, with five banks joining the original 11 leads.