Crédit Agricole

The tone in Europe’s corporate bond new issue market continued to strengthen on Thursday, as two issuers came to market and achieved strong sales, despite a wider market that worsened during the day.

Corporate bond issuers enjoyed tighter spreads and strong order books amid an improvement in issuance conditions as they jumped back into the dollar market this week.

The Basque Government this week gave one of the best signs that investor worries about Italy’s political situation are unlikely to spill over to other countries as it printed a three times subscribed debut sustainability bond.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s London branch issued a $1.5bn-equivalent green bond on Tuesday, becoming the third big Chinese bank to hit the offshore debt market with floating rate notes in less than a week.

The Basque Government’s return to bond markets on Tuesday after a more than two year absence suggested that investors are not duly concerned about Spain being caught up in volatility last week, with orders ploughing into the debut sustainable bond issue.

Hyundai Capital America took advantage of investors’ newfound love of floating rate notes on Monday, sealing a $1.3bn triple-tranche deal led by a three year floater.

Delachaux, the French railway equipment maker, has set the terms on its Paris IPO.

The Basque Government will bring the first real test of investor appetite for Spanish public sector risk since a wave of Italy-led volatility hit the eurozone periphery last week, as it opened proceedings on an inaugural sustainable bond — its first issue of any kind in over two years.

Bank of China offered something exciting to the debt market on Thursday by selling green bonds as well as the first sustainability note from a Chinese issuer.

Paragon Group, the UK ticket printing company, has tapped a euro private placement it issued in April, raising €35m.

Hera, the Italian utility, has signed a green revolving credit facility, laying claim to bringing the first such deal from the country, amid a wave of environmentally conscious loans spearheaded by southern Europe.

French car company Groupe PSA has amended its €3bn revolving credit facility, stretching out the maturity out by five years.