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• Volvo returns to euro public bonds after four years

  

  Volvo, the Swedish lorry maker, took advantage on Friday of recent upgrades to both its ratings by issuing its first public euro bond since 2014. The decision seemed to pay off: the deal was six times covered, and priced close to or even through fair value.

  • 17 May 2019

• Eager investors shrug off macro fears, gulp Acea, FCA, Northern

  

  Thursday’s corporate bond new issue action in Europe confirmed the picture presented on Wednesday: that investors were determined not to let macroeconomic issues bother them, and were piling into new issues. The day was less blemished than the previous one had been by volatility, enabling issuers to get some very tight spreads.

  • 16 May 2019

• Vesteda green debut comes 5bp under curve as UK funds lead €3bn book

  

  Vesteda, the Dutch housing company, proved there was plenty of hunger for green bonds on Thursday, when its first issue of the kind, a €500m no-grow eight year, hoovered up orders to finish six times oversubscribed.

  • 16 May 2019

• Russian Railways green bond orders top €1.4bn

  

  Books for Russian Railways’ eight year euro green bond had breached the €1.4bn mark by lunchtime on Wednesday, allowing leads to tighten pricing. A banker away from the note said the levels offered looked fair.

  • 16 May 2019

• Thomas Cook bonds collapse on new senior loan, huge writedown

  

  Thomas Cook bonds traded down more than 12 points on Thursday in heavy volume, as the UK holidays group announced a new first-ranking loan for the winter season, a big goodwill writedown that took its pre-tax loss to £1.4bn, and a big drawdown on its revolving credit facility.

  • 16 May 2019

• Berry moulds all-dollar bond for RPC buy

  

  Berry Global, the US plastic packaging maker, will raise bonds to finance its purchase of UK plastics maker RPC Group, it said on Wednesday. The debt raising will feature $3bn of senior secured notes in two tranches. This marks the end of leveraged finance bankers' hopes that the auction of RPC would deliver substantial new money supply to the European market.

  • 16 May 2019

• Ceske Drahy ends three year bond market absence

  

  Ceske Drahy, the Czech national railway company, hit screens on Thursday announcing a euro benchmark, returning to the bond market for the first time in three years.

  • 16 May 2019

• Fidelity prefers Europe for bulk of M&A deal

  

  Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), the US financial software company, honoured Europe’s bond markets this week with the lion’s share of the debt financing for its takeover of Worldpay, the payments group that began as part of Royal Bank of Scotland, for an enterprise value of $43bn.

  • 16 May 2019

• KKR pulls off euro debut at small NIP

  

  KKR, the US private equity firm, issued its first euro bond on a crowded day on Wednesday, competing with four other issuers, but that did not stop it achieving attractive execution.

  • 16 May 2019

• Dollar market pauses, then decides not to fret about Trump

  

  The dollar corporate bond market showed its resilience this week as issuance rebounded, despite the US-China trade turmoil. “Trump, Trump, Trump,” was how one syndicate manager explained the reasons for the return of volatility as high grade credit markets see-sawed with the President’s mood swings.

  • 16 May 2019

• MAF CEO says green format helped pricing

  

  Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) brought the world’s first benchmark green corporate sukuk to market last week. Chief executive Alain Bejjani said the format had helped the leads price the deal tighter and that they would return to the green market.

  • 16 May 2019

• Rash of corporate bonds including Philips, Enel win tight pricing

  

  A flurry of corporate bonds came to the European market on Wednesday, and all found strong receptions, suggesting that demand for investment grade credit remains unabated by the rumblings of US-China trade war and President Trump's aggressive noises against Iran.

  • 15 May 2019

• BNP hires new chief US credit strategist

  

  BNP Paribas on Wednesday announced that it has hired a new US chief credit strategist.

  • 15 May 2019

• Russian Railways fixes maturity for green bond debut

  

  Russian Railways has told investors that it is focusing on an eight year tenor for its euro green bond, with pricing for the benchmark expected "as early as tomorrow." The deal will be the first international green bond from the country.

  • 15 May 2019

• Investment grade back on track but levfin feels bumps from Trump

  

  The looming US-China trade war is stalking European corporate credit markets, though it has not yet made a full-on assault on confidence. Investment grade bond players blamed a quiet start to the week on it, and it seems now to be finally being noticed in high yield land, where opportunistic issues have dried up.

  • 15 May 2019

• Trade war and Fidelity nudge out corporate issuance

  

  Trade war concerns and US title insurer Fidelity National Information Service’s eight tranche €6.44bn equivalent deal crowded out issuers from the corporate euro investment grade market on Tuesday, bankers and investors said. But several are hopeful that deal flow could pick up later in the week.

  • 14 May 2019

• NLMK roadshows as Russian window stays open

  

  Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), a Russian steelmaker, is embarking on a roadshow to market a dollar benchmark bond with a five to seven year maturity as issuers and investors brush off the risks of further US sanctions on the country.

  • 14 May 2019

• Loans, bonds and the line between them

  Thanks to a lawsuit in the US, the question of whether leveraged loans are securities or not appears to be on the table. The challenge points to a gap in the regulation of modern capital markets that needs filling in.

  • 14 May 2019

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