Crédit Agricole

The European Investment Bank and Dexia Credit Local were the only two public sector borrowers to sell deals in the primary market this week as issuance wound down ahead of the Easter break.

French insurer Axa issued its inaugural green tier two bond on Wednesday and attracted a peak order book of more than €3.4bn for the €1bn deal.

Gulf corporates Ooredoo, Nogaholding and Arabian Centres sprung into the bond market this week, defying revived market volatility to raise dollar funding. The string of corporate issuance follows a similar streak from the region’s FIG issuers last week.

Dexia Credit Local was able to push the pricing of its new dollar benchmark on Tuesday thanks to pent-up demand for high quality paper in the currency.

An environmental activist institute has argued that the bookrunners of a Korea National Oil Corp $700m bond priced on Tuesday are being inconsistent with their own climate policies, and might even be taking legal risks, because of the issuer's exposure to tar sands oil production in Canada.

Play, the Polish mobile network operator, has raised a syndicated loan from European banks, according to sources, while total volumes from central and eastern Europe’s biggest economies have been low so far this year.

Korea National Oil Corp’s (KNOC) quasi-sovereign credentials helped drive demand for its $700m bond on Monday, its first international debt transaction of the year.

Axa is lining up its inaugural green deal in tier two format, becoming the latest financial borrower to combine a subordinated bond with an ESG label.

Qatari telecommunications company Ooredoo started investor calls on Monday for a conventional dollar bond after a five year hiatus from the market.

The Autonomous Community of Andalucia has selected banks to arrange a series of meetings with investors to promote its new sustainable finance framework and provide a credit update.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market was busy this week, as slightly improved market conditions prompted a diverse set of issuers to lock in funding before the end of the quarter.

BPER Banca overcame its sub-investment grade rating on Thursday, attracting plenty of demand for an inaugural social bond that will fund Covid-19 related lending in southern Italy.