Commerzbank

It was another sparkling week in dollars for public sector borrowers, with Asian Development Bank the pick of the bunch as it brought the tightest deal of the year so far versus Libor and US Treasuries. More supply is expected for next week, although some SSA bankers feel the market could do with a “breather”.

Wider euro spreads versus swaps and Bunds had already led to some superstrong trades in the currency this year, but Spain outdid them all this week with the largest ever book for a public sector euro benchmark. Every other euro deal also attracted heavy oversubscription with minimal concession, paving the way for expected supply next week from a “large German agency in the short end” and a “central European sovereign in 10 years”, according to one head of SSA syndicate.

Germany’s largest residential property company Vonovia attracted €4.5bn of demand for its latest deal on Thursday, as the property sector continues to be one of the more popular in the corporate bond market.

The public sector dollar market on Wednesday showed that it had more than enough depth to cope with a pair of issuers bringing deals in the same maturity with just a basis point of difference in initial price thoughts, as both trades came in size and at tightened pricing. Another agency is set to dip into the demand on Thursday.

Two SSA borrowers will go head to head in the dollar market on Wednesday, bringing five year benchmarks with only 1bp difference in initial price thoughts.

Spain came to market on Tuesday, printing its traditional January 10 year euro benchmark and receiving an overwhelming level of demand.

New issuance returned to the corporate bond market on Tuesday as Auchan and Vonovia attracted €8bn of demand for their new deals after two days without any trades. The new issuance spreads they paid differed markedly however.

Belgium’s Solvay has signed a €2bn sustainability-linked revolving credit facility, as the chemicals company progresses with one of the most ambitious decarbonisation undertakings in its industry.

Spain mandated banks on Monday for its first syndicated bond of the year, as it looks to replicate the success of other eurozone sovereign syndications so far in 2019.

Given the uncertainty created by Tuesday’s Brexit vote, the issuance frontloaded into the Swiss franc market at the start of the week was dominated by domestic borrowers.

On Friday, American data centre owner Digital Realty sold the first green corporate bond in euros of 2019, but investors did not have long to wait for the second one as Italian energy company Enel also chose to issue in the format.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) has launched a $700m multi-tranche loan into general syndication, raising some debate among bankers about the tight pricing on offer.