Europe’s high grade bond bankers are in two minds about the severity of the summer shutdown, with some expecting the traditional deal lull while others think the coronavirus pandemic will mean a busy market.
Spanish issuers were out in Europe’s corporate bond market on Monday, with Cepsa and Merlin Properties raising debt, as bankers and analysts expect a few weeks of “opportunistic” issuance in the run-up to earnings blackouts.
Investors in UK universities are struggling to work out just how risky the sector is, as its lucrative international student intake as well as pension liabilities are still unclear. A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on Monday estimated that 13 universities may go bust if they do not either carry out debt restructurings or receive government bailouts.
Apollo Global Management announced on Monday a new private credit unit aiming to provide $1bn direct loans to larger firms, in the first instance of a direct lending fund with its eyes only fixed on big business.
Rolls-Royce, the UK maker of aircraft engines, may soon launch a share sale as part of an effort to repair its balance sheet following a huge downturn in the aviation industry caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moncler, the Italian skiing jacket maker, has signed a sustainability-linked revolving credit facility for up to €400m, continuing the trend towards more environmentally friendly practices from the infamously wasteful fashion industry.
Swedish alarm firm Verisure is preparing a €1bn refinancing, underlining the move in the leveraged credit market from the tough days of March and April to firmer territory where sponsors can optimise capital structures, not just hang on for liquidity at any price.
Bitė, a mobile, broadband and pay TV firm in the Baltic region and a portfolio company of Providence Private Equity, is prepping a dividend recap and refinancing of its whole capital structure, funded by a dual tranche high yield bond offering. This marks the company’s return to bond markets after nearly five years financed through loans.
Commerzbank’s future strategy is up in the air, after its chief executive offered to resign and its chairman said he would step down. This came after a poor reaction to its 5.0 plan.
The secondary market for defensive European corporate bonds is on fire, now that new issuance has slowed, but there are growing fears that the rampant rise of coronavirus cases in the US will lead to a correction.
Shimao Group Holdings offered bond investors a rare 10 year tenor from the Chinese property industry, pricing the $300m deal inside of fair value.
John Muncey has joined Barclays as vice-chairman of its consumer retail group (CRG) in Europe and the Middle East, while Jamshed Kakalia has been promoted to lead the consumer business in that team.
Property developer Modern Land (China) Co has returned to the green market with a $250m bond.
Chinese issuers hoping to put the pandemic behind them should not abandon coronavirus-linked bonds.
Tahoe Group Co was unable to repay a Rmb1.5bn ($213.4m) onshore bond on Monday, as it struggles with tight liquidity, limited market access and poor corporate governance.
Sunac China Holdings met some of its looming dollar refinancing pressure with a $1bn bond outing on Monday.
A rally in Hong Kong and China’s equity markets on Monday buoyed sentiment among debt investors too. They pumped in orders of more than $10bn into Shanghai International Port (Group) Co’s dollar bond at the peak.
Apollo Global Management announced on Monday a new private credit unit aiming to provide $1bn direct loans to larger firms, in the first instance of a direct lending fund with its eyes only fixed on big business.
Investors in UK universities are struggling to work out just how risky the sector is, as its lucrative international student intake as well as pension liabilities are still unclear. A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on Monday estimated that 13 universities may go bust if they do not either carry out debt restructurings or receive government bailouts.
Moncler, the Italian skiing jacket maker, has signed a sustainability-linked revolving credit facility for up to €400m, continuing the trend towards more environmentally friendly practices from the infamously wasteful fashion industry.
Spanish issuers were out in Europe’s corporate bond market on Monday, with Cepsa and Merlin Properties raising debt, as bankers and analysts expect a few weeks of “opportunistic” issuance in the run-up to earnings blackouts.
Europe’s high grade bond bankers are in two minds about the severity of the summer shutdown, with some expecting the traditional deal lull while others think the coronavirus pandemic will mean a busy market.
Wuhan Dangdai Science & Technology Industries (Group) Co chose a quiet Friday for deal flow to raise $200.5m from a tap.
Europe’s high grade corporate debt bankers say that early September will be an inflection point in the market. The full effects of the coronavirus pandemic will be on display in corporate earnings and the direction for their investment plans will be clearer.
Philippine conglomerate JG Summit Holdings managed to tackle investor questions and scrutiny into the impact of Covid-19 on its business to make a rare bond market outing for $600m.
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Environmental, social and governance investors have been patting themselves on the back this year because their funds have tended to outperform during the coronavirus crisis. But a San Francisco hedge fund believes they are doing a poor job of shielding investors from the general risk of the stockmarket and more quantitative methods would improve the outcome.
Unrated Swiss private railway operator Rhätische Bahn, owner of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Bernina railway, made its second stop in the Swiss franc bond market this week, four years after its debut deal.
Takeda Pharmaceutical was the standout issuer as US high grade corporate bond issuance ground to a halt this week, ahead of the July 4 holiday.
A survey by Deutsche Bank this week challenged the consensus that investors' interest in environmental, social and governance funds has been intensified by the coronavirus crisis. On the contrary, it argues: appetite has weakened.
Deutsche Bahn tapped the Kangaroo and Swedish kronor markets on Wednesday after having spent the first half of 2020 focused on the euro market.
Europe’s high grade market finally found a solid footing on Thursday after days of scrabbling for purchase, with the biggest trades of the day landing flat or through fair value.
After discussions with US private placement holders, French food services company Sodexo has said it will repay roughly $1.6bn of debt early, in the largest ever early repayment of US PPs. It is a result of tensions that have flared up during the pandemic over covenant protections, which some fear will lead to a drop in corporate PP deal flow.
Chinese social media platform Weibo Corp returned to the dollar market on Tuesday with a 10 year bond.
A long-running attempt by Chinese oil company Hilong Holding to complete an exchange offer on a dollar bond has failed, after it confirmed a default this week. The situation has caused analysts to speculate on how it could have executed its deal better. Alice Huang reports.
National Grid Electricity Transmission, the UK power transmission company, was out with a dual tranche trade on Thursday, including the first test of the conventional sterling benchmark market in more than a month.
Chinese policy makers have finalised rules on how to deal with corporate bond defaults, with the regulation to go into effect next month.
Bayer, the German life sciences company, enjoyed blow-out demand for its €6bn multi-tranche bond issue on Wednesday, days after agreeing to pay up to $10.9bn to settle a lawsuit over claims its weedkiller, Roundup, causes cancer.
AMS had to discount its bond by an extra point and pay a higher coupon in the face of lower demand as it looked to fund the takeover of light maker Osram, after news broke last Thursday of a potential investigation into the company’s executives. That forced bookrunners to reopen the deal and take another swing at the market this week.
UK discount chain B&M Value Retail has launched a £350m senior secured bond and a £300m term loan to refinance its whole capital structure — with help from the Arora brothers, the largest shareholders in the company, who will subscribe for £100m of the bond through their vehicle SSA Investments.
Royal Vopak, the Dutch oil and gas storage company, is marketing senior and subordinated private placements, according to market sources.
Europe’s investment grade corporate bond market acquired a more cheerful tone on Tuesday, with new issues well oversubscribed, despite quickly shifting sentiment.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Italian-American crossover-rated car company, launched €3.5bn of bonds into the market on Tuesday, days after its Italian arm had agreed €6.3bn of bailout funds guaranteed by Italy.
BP’s announcement that it was selling $5bn of assets to Ineos — a sale the already leveraged group will fund largely through new debt — put selling pressure on existing Ineos debt on Monday; particularly that issued by its Styrolution unit, which will be the acquirer in the BP deal.
After discussions with US private placement holders, French food services company Sodexo has said it will repay roughly $1.6bn of debt early. Four market sources said this was the largest corporate early repayment of US PPs of all time. Some fear a growing disconnect between institutional investors and companies over financial covenants, and attempts to amend them.
Mercialys, the BBB rated French shopping centre owner, launched a sub-benchmark bond with an eye-catching yield on Tuesday, wider than a simultaneous deal by Fiat Chrysler, which is crossover-rated. Syndicate bankers said trying to be precise about pricing and sentiment this week was more difficult than it had been for months.
Chinese property companies Times China Holdings and Golden Wheel Tiandi Holdings Co took a combined $470m from the bond market on Monday.
Zhejiang Changxing Financial Holdings Group Co opted for a club-style execution for its $160m maiden international bond on Monday.
ThyssenKrupp Elevator (TKE) is a deal of superlatives: the largest European high yield debut, the largest European LBO in over a decade, the last LBO before coronavirus, the most levered debut industrial, and the worst-ever covenant package — or at least, it was at first. Three days after launching the bond leg of the deal, the sponsors and leads capitulated, erasing almost every controversial term in the docs — perhaps the largest ever retreat and the biggest investor victory in the long-running war over bond covenants. But it’s too soon for investors to celebrate, as the episode only highlights how damaging this conflict has become.
DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, the German air traffic controller, launched a Schuldschein deal on Monday, on the hunt for at least €250m.
Europe’s high grade bond market provided some mixed indications of sentiment on Monday with the deals for Takeda and SEE seeing notable differences in demand, leaving syndicate bankers trying to work out what this means for what is expected to be a busy week of issuance.
DirectBooks, which plans to bring a new issuance platform for bond markets, has not ruled out the possibility of a partnership with other providers.
Morgan Stanley has hired Alessandro Mazza as a managing director in its leveraged finance business in Europe.
The UK’s new insolvency law came into force on Friday, and lawyers have been spending the weekend picking through its 250 pages to understand the implications. While some have welcomed it, others pointed out that in its haste to push it through Parliament, the government has introduced several changes that skew the balance between various kinds of lenders which hitherto had been treated equally.
John Muncey has joined Barclays as vice-chairman of its consumer retail group (CRG) in Europe and the Middle East, while Jamshed Kakalia has been promoted to lead the consumer business in that team.
Some parts of the market are talking about the benefits of ultra-short, money market debt that has a sustainability theme, while on Tuesday BBVA issued a perpetual green bond, albeit with a call. The viability of both these forms of debt shows that the common perception about green bonds is not quite true.
John Muncey has joined Barclays as vice-chairman of its consumer retail group (CRG) in Europe and the Middle East, while Jamshed Kakalia has been promoted to lead the consumer business in that team.
UK home emergency and repair company Homeserve has entered the US private placement market, according to sources, looking for at least £125m.
Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), which is in the market to refinance a one year $1.3bn loan facility signed in September, is facing troubles according to bankers on the deal, contrary to comments recently made by the company's chief executive.
Europe’s high grade bond market provided some mixed indications of sentiment on Monday with the deals for Takeda and SEE seeing notable differences in demand, leaving syndicate bankers trying to work out what this means for what is expected to be a busy week of issuance.
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