Crédit Agricole

A flurry of new deals this week had issuers having to compete for investors’ attention. Bankers said that higher yielding deals were much easier to sell, with non-preferred senior bonds from Bankia and Lloyds Banking Group proving more popular than a tighter print from Belfius.

Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to sell its first social senior bond from its holding company, giving investors a rare chance to add exposure to a UK issuer in the format.

Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is getting ready to offer FIG investors a very rare chance to purchase green bank capital in euros, with the issuer set to hit the road for a new tier two in November.

The holding company of the Bolloré billionaire family is planning to issue an unspecified amount of unsecured notes. Their largest investment, a 26% stake in media giant Vivendi, will be excluded from some of the covenants designed to protect the investors.

The People’s Republic of China has caused a stir among DCM bankers in Asia and Europe with plans to return to the euro bond market for the first time since 2004. While expectations on opposite sides of the world are starkly different, what is clear is that the sovereign’s deal will be less about the pricing itself and more about making a statement. Addison Gong and Burhan Khadbai report.

Germany’s Daimler and the Netherlands’ KPN were out for euro bonds on Wednesday. High grade corporate bond players kept an eagle eye on the trades to see what shape the European Central Bank’s bond buying programme would take this time round.

One of the more fascinating transactions to reach the Schuldschein market in the past few months is from the European arm of Singapore-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) Cromwell. The transaction’s closing date was postponed by more than a month, as many away from the deal claimed the deal was struggling to find traction. But bankers close to the situation were quick to assure that it was still on track and investors just needed more time to analyse the credit.

The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, has closed a $10bn bridge loan, with tighter margins than its debut entry into the loan market in September 2018. The deal is one of this year's highlights from the region, where syndicated loan volumes have declined from last year.

After making its debut in the capital markets last week, France’s Action Logement Services (ALS) plans to issue bonds and private placements across various maturities under its 100% sustainable euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme.

Berlin Hyp on Monday launched its first preferred senior bond in green format. The German issuer chose a 10 year maturity and quickly attracted orders, supported by an investor community that follows the bank’s frequent green issuance.

ESR Cayman has raised HK$12.6bn ($1.6bn) from its Hong Kong IPO after pricing the deal at the mid-point of guidance and exercising the greenshoe in full, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Rusal has signed the first internationally syndicated sustainability-linked loan from Russia. The heavily oversubscribed facility is part of a slowly growing shift towards green financing in Russia, said bankers.