Crédit Agricole

After a two week hiatus, the additional tier one market has rebooted with Italy’s debut AT1 issuer UniCredit printing a $1.25bn trade at 8% — a level that partly reflects a new equilibrium in the asset class, after investors pushed back over successively tighter and tighter prints.

Banco Santander Totta this week returned to the covered bond market after a four year absence, choosing a three year maturity and a spread that ensured it was an easy choice for risk-averse and yield-hungry investors alike. The €1bn deal is likely to replace central bank funding.

Kaufman & Broad, the French residential property developer, priced its €370m high yield bond at the tight end of guidance on Wednesday.

Mexican cement company Cemex increased its euro and dollar bond issue on Tuesday after a strong sale, as Latin American borrowers continue to benefit from investors finding it hard to obtain paper in secondary markets.

The world’s largest pork processor WH Group, or formerly known as Shuanghui International, now has a record 28 banks working on its jumbo $5bn-$6bn IPO, according to bankers on the transaction.

Europe's financial institutions debt market was a little softer in synthetic indices as this week began, but that has not kept issuers from pricing and planning deals.

France's Ceva Santé Animale is considering dropping the dollar tranche from its €700m-equivalent covenant-lite loan package after receiving strong support from investors in Europe, according to senior loans bankers and investors.

Three financials are looking to retest the market’s appetite for additional tier one deals, after a two week hiatus for the asset class that has seen spreads on recent AT1 bonds widen, raising the question of whether the next round of trades will enjoy the stellar primary market successes of their peers.

The time is right for floating rate issuance, bank finance specialists believe. Market volatility, the spectre of rising interest rates and huge demand for senior unsecured bank debt have come together to create conditions in which issuers are keen to sell floaters and investors are hungry to take them.

Credit Agricole’s medium term plan, published on Thursday, features the investment bank moving to a “distribute to originate” model, anchored to Europe and serving major borrowers and investors.

Abengoa, the Spanish engineering and renewable power group, wants to issue €400m of seven year senior notes on Friday to prefund a 2015 bond maturity.

Unlike the bruising encounter between their countries’ rugby teams over the weekend, the MTN world’s Irish and French representatives have gone a little bit soft.