Citi

BPER Banca overcame its sub-investment grade rating on Thursday, attracting plenty of demand for an inaugural social bond that will fund Covid-19 related lending in southern Italy.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

BPER Banca and UBS ventured out into the euro market on Thursday. After a quiet few days, issuance is ramping up as rates volatility subsides, with bankers expecting a light shower of deals ahead of Easter.

Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company Seplat Petroleum entered the international bond markets on Thursday seeking to raise dollar funding. As primary issuance re-starts in the CEEMEA region, Seplat is one of a few high yielding names testing the temperature.

Europe’s high grade bond market continued to pump out deals on Wednesday, with Vantage Towers raising three tranches of debt after its IPO and Japan’s Nidec selling a green trade.

Financial issuance got underway in the euro primary market on Wednesday, with borrowers keen to bring forward ESG-labelled bonds in the first deals of the week.

The Saudi-headquartered Islamic Development Bank is set to sell a dollar bond on Wednesday, having launched the deal on Tuesday. The sustainability sukuk is one of two FIG deals from the Gulf region this week, as Kuwait’s Boubyan Bank also entered the market for a dollar sukuk.

The Republic of Ghana, one of the few African sovereigns to have tapped capital markets last year, this week mandated banks to arrange a dollar bond. The multi-tranche bond, market participants say, will demonstrate investors’ appetite for high yield credit.

Bank Negara Indonesia sold a rare Basel III-compliant tier two dollar bond on Tuesday, raising $500m.

GLP China Holdings received a stronger reception than expected for its bond outing this week, allowing the logistics company to raise $700m with a small premium.

Hong Kong-based Jeneration Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), is planning to raise $300m from a Nasdaq IPO.

Rentenbank entered the deserted dollar bond market on Tuesday, printing $1.75bn of five year notes. The market has been quiet for public sector issuers in the past few weeks, thanks to a volatile Treasury market and an issuer base already well stocked with funding, but Rentenbank found investors receptive.