Currencies

The Spanish central government’s stand-off with the executive in Catalonia over an upcoming independence referendum is failing to worry Bono investors — but some bankers believe the market could soon be hit by a bout of volatility unless an agreement is reached. The Spanish situation was in marked contrast to the country’s western neighbour, as Portugal enjoyed a strong week after regaining investment grade status from S&P.

Guarantor: Republic of Austria

Engie, the French energy group, priced its second green bond transaction of 2017 on Tuesday. The triple trancher contained two green clips and took the issuer’s tally to six different green bonds. As issuers start to establish genuine green curves, they are starting to create their own sector, writes Nigel Owen.

Despite the low volatility the corporate bond market has been experiencing for months there can still be fluctuations in new issue premiums and pauses after a sudden rush of issuance. However, the current flow of long lost issuers is helping iron out the bumps.

Crédit Agricole issued a six and a half year Swiss franc bond on Thursday, opting for senior preferred in a bid to diversify towards Swiss investors.

Order books for the dual tranche high yield bond deal from German pharmaceutical company, Stada, closed at noon on Thursday. Such was the demand for the secured tranche that the deal was was increased by €250m.

Deutsche Bahn raised A$600m ($475.4m) with its debut Kangaroo bond on Thursday, making it the first German corporate to issue in the market.

Spanish gas distribution company, NorteGas Energía Distribución, was the only investment grade corporate bond issuer in the euro market on Thursday. Its debut deal was a €1.3bn five year and 10 year dual tranche offering.

The European Investment Bank tapped its January 2028 Australian dollar Climate Awareness Bond on Wednesday. The bond’s green credentials attracted investors rarely seen that far along the credit curve, a promising sign of the market’s maturity.

In September, a number of issuers have returned to the European corporate bond markets after a number of years without issuing. On Wednesday, German chemicals distributor, Brenntag, Australian property company Goodman, and Austrian steel company, Voestalpine, were the latest to join that list.

Kingboard Chemical Holdings is tapping banks for a HK$5bn ($641m) four year borrowing, after a two year hiatus from the loan syndication market.

Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai Financial had a rousing welcome to its debut in the offshore loan market, raising HK$4.5bn ($576m) versus the HK$1bn it had initially sought.