Crédit Agricole

Financial institutions with funding needs that are holding off in anticipation of better issuance conditions are doing it wrong. Waiting until the other side of earnings season to bring deals will likely prove a mistake.

A measured reopening of the primary bond markets in the last month has left banks in a good place to launch new deals after first quarter results, according to FIG DCM officials.

Syctom, a French metropolitan agency responsible for household waste management in the Île-de-France region, printed its debut bond at the end of last week, selling a green bond that will go towards funding sustainable waste management projects in the Paris region.

Europe’s high grade corporate issuers began the week deploying their recent tactic of tightening spreads aggressively during bookbuilding from cheap starting points, with Elia Transmission Belgium ratcheting in its spread by 60bp from initial price thoughts.

BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole enjoyed the best of conditions as they reopened the market for non-preferred senior bonds from eurozone banks this week, but Société Générale ran into market turbulence when it emerged a day later. Bankers said that showed that demand for the instrument remains limited.

Société Générale continued the streak of French bail-in bond issuance on Wednesday but had to pay a higher new issue premium compared to its compatriots.

Greece is looking to become the latest eurozone sovereign to sell a seven year syndicated bond, after mandating banks on Tuesday for the transaction.

France’s La Poste saw almost €14bn of demand for its dual tranche trade on Tuesday, with the state-owned postal service kick-starting the shortened week in style with borrowers expected to start exploring issuance down their capital structures.

South Korea's Shinhan Bank raised $500m from a Formosa bond on Wednesday, taking advantage of the strong interest from Taiwanese investors for its transaction. The borrower paid just 20bp in new issue premium.

Yankee bank and insurance names took centre stage in the dollar market as US banks prepared to give their first insight into the impact of the coronavirus with the arrival of bank earnings season.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) was the latest public sector agency to head to the euro market this week as it raised €1.5bn on Wednesday with a 10 year benchmark. While the deal was fully subscribed, the order book was not huge and the pricing did not tighten from guidance, indicating that the market may be slowing.

The State of Qatar and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi looked to sell bonds this week in the wake of extreme oil price volatility that has left commodity exporters with fragile fiscal positions.