Credit Suisse

Two KKR backed firms have brought the first European leveraged loan market repricings of the year, picking up on a trend that is already in full swing in the US this year.

BayernLB was set to issue its first sterling public sector Pfandbrief on Thursday with the latest order book update suggesting it had made good headway by paying a super attractive spread.

Corporates from Hong Kong, China and Singapore were clamouring for investors’ attention on Thursday for their respective offerings.

Shares in Banco Comercial Português, the Portuguese bank, have fallen 21% since it unveiled plans late on Monday for a €1.33bn rights issue to strengthen its core tier one capital ratio and finance the redemption of contingent convertible bonds owned by the Portuguese government.

The treasury team at BASF, the German chemicals producer, kept up a high level of capital markets activity on Tuesday as it targeted a debut transaction in the Eurodollar market.

Primary activity in the European leveraged loans market is off to a stuttering start this year, with only a few small deals launched and larger borrowers either yet to appear or set to forego the market.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has tied up funds totalling $130m via a syndicated loan facility.

Origin, an electronic platform for private placement issuance, went live on Monday, with six investment banks and more than 20 borrowers having access to the beta version.

Four corporates from Greater China announced their respective plans to sell bonds on Monday, setting the stage for a potentially busy week of primary issuance in Asia.

European financials have found every reason to get into the dollar market early in 2017, leading to a fireworks display of total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) senior deals this week. Though market conditions could not have been better to receive the banks, many will have wanted to squirrel away quantities of funding and capital for what could be another troublesome year in the capital markets.

Royal Bank of Canada, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank tapped the sterling covered bond market this week at cheaper levels than they could have achieved in euros and dollars.

Despite having bagged some of the biggest returns in the capital markets last year, European high yield fund managers are entering 2017 with unease as they survey central bank activity and potential political mishaps.