Commerzbank

BBVA, BFCM and BPCE met with strong investor demand for euro senior unsecured deals on Monday, as peripheral and longer dated debt proved no deterrent to buyers.

Borrowers who issued covered bonds this week that are eligible for the European Central Bank’s purchase programme (CBPP3) did not receive such a strong reception as those whose bonds were not eligible.

Eleven covered bonds were priced in the first week of 2016 despite the onset of European holidays and US non-farm payroll data.

Investment grade loan pricing has stopped falling — meaning the flow of refinancing deals is ebbing. Mergers and acquisitions, as ever, are what banks want, and they are confident of getting more in 2016. But will banks finally get round to weeding out unprofitable relationships? Rob Cooke reports.

Middle Eastern loans burst open in the fourth quarter of 2015, with deals aplenty for corporates, banks and sovereigns. The deal flow will not ebb this year, but pricing will rise and international lenders will play a bigger role, replacing local lenders. Elly Whittaker reports.

LGC Group, the UK life sciences company, will hold a bank meeting on January 13 for £500m of debt to finance its sale by Bridgepoint to KKR.

Sharjah has become the first CEEMEA issuer to brave the bond markets this year, mandating six banks for a Reg S-only dollar sukuk roadshow and defying sceptics who said earlier this week that Middle East issuance would be postponed as geopolitical tensions in the region escalated.

Daimler opened this year's European investment grade corporate bond issuance on Tuesday, selling a barn-storming €3.25bn triple tranche deal that pulled in a €7bn order book.

The GlobalCapital editorial team has picked what it believes to be the standout bond issues of 2015 across the corporate, public sector, financial institution and emerging market bond markets. Below are the Corporate Deals of the Year 2015. We selected the trades that we think will be remembered for their success in challenging conditions, for making the best use of the demand available to them, or for having made a longer lasting impact, such as the re-opening of a market. The winners are presented here.

Kathrein, the German communications technology manufacturer, has signed a €350m revolving credit facility for refinancing purposes.

Commerzbank this week became the latest bank to lose its place on a sovereign’s list of primary dealerships, raising a familiar, weary groan from SSA bankers worried about the future of the model — but the head of a major eurozone sovereign has said that issuers are on the banks’ side.

The covered bond market is likely to see more supply in 2016 than it did in 2015 even as the European Central Bank reduces covered bond purchases in favour of other asset classes, said analysts this week.