Deutsche Bank

BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank are marketing a €710m term loan 'B' to fund the secondary buyout of Armacell by PAI Partners, announced just before Christmas. This will be the insulation company’s fifth LBO, so it is well known to lenders, who ought to support the new deal despite a downgrade last year.

US issuers are tapping into favourable conditions the euro bond market after reporting their latest results. Goldman Sachs and New York Life Insurance were quick to launch senior bonds on Thursday, boosting supply volumes just as European lenders start preparing for their own reporting season.

Future Retail’s inaugural dollar bond raised the curtain for India’s retail shopping sector, as the company leveraged on its new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon to raise $500m. But while the industry appeals to investors, issuance pipeline from the country remains thin, writes Morgan Davis.

Crossover credit CyrusOne, a US real estate investment trust, headed to the euro bond market for a seven year trade on Wednesday. It got chunky demand and tightened its spread by 35bp during execution.

Indonesian real estate developer Lippo Karawaci played to investors' need for diversification away from China, when it raised $325m from a 2025 bond sale.

The overwhelming supply of international bonds from Asia continued on Tuesday, as issuers dashed to raise dollars, and in one case, sterling. But not every borrower was able to cross the finish line.

Future Retail threw open the door for India's retail shopping sector on Tuesday with its $500m debut bond, getting a solid book of $3bn for the transaction.

Prosus, the Dutch-based consumer internet company spun off by Naspers in September, has launched a $1.25bn 10 year bond, days after it failed to convince shareholders in takeaway delivery group Just Eat to sell it the company.

Prosus, the international internet business spun off by South Africa-headquartered Naspers in September, has released initial pricing guidance for a 10 year dollar benchmark at a level two analysts called attractive, given the company’s 31% stake in Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Navigating the covered bond market will not be without its challenges in 2020. The Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation (TLTRO), European Central Bank deposit tiering and the Covered Bond Purchase Programme have collectively distorted the market, but added to this concoction is the impact of negative interest rates. Against this backdrop issuers, investors and investment bankers gathered in Munich in November to discuss the outlook for covered bonds. It is likely that new issue premiums will gradually tighten, but the path is unlikely to be smooth. January is typically the busiest month, but in 2019, issuers that funded this early paid the highest spreads. And, with the ECB expected to buy in the region of €4.5bn covered bonds a month, issuers will not feel compelled to move early. But the ECB monetary policy has unwelcome implications. Covered bonds have begun to lose value against government bonds, and this will extend if the ECB is unable to loosen restrictions on government bond purchases.

Turkish lender Yapi Kredi ventured into the green bond market for the first time on Friday with a rare dollar private placement, its first since January 2016, according to Dealogic data.

Seven borrowers from Greater China raised about $2bn from new dollar bonds on Monday, while Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific tapped the Singapore dollar market.