Deutsche Bank

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) this week sold its largest ever benchmark as it tackled an increased funding programme that will grow further in the next few years. That means the issuer will look to bring big trades again — as well as potentially growing its presence in the privately placed MTN market.

The new-look Fox Corp made its dollar bond debut this week as the technical backdrop in the investment grade continued to improve with tightening spreads and thinner new issue concessions.

Technology M&A will continue to power corporate finance activity in 2019 but, as deals increasingly cross sectors, banks are having to re-tool their coverage and break up internal silos, writes David Rothnie.

The Philippines’ equity capital market came to life this week with two back-to-back overnight transactions, with Puregold Price Club and Ayala Corp in the limelight.

A year on from selling its first green hybrid bond, French energy company Engie returned to sell another with a slightly longer call date. Demand for the product has remained strong, but the difference in coupons showed how pricing has changed despite the borrower paying virtually no premium over the company’s secondary bonds.

Philippine supermarket chain Puregold Price Club raised Ps4.69bn ($90m) from a top-up placement on Wednesday.

Export Development Canada will head out for a roadshow next month for its first benchmark in euros, taking advantage of the attractive market conditions for issuing in the currency for dollar funders. More deals could follow from debut and rare issuers in euros, with several borrowers looking “closely” at the cross-currency basis swap, according to bankers.

The party in Chinese high yield real estate bonds continued this week, with China Aoyuan Group, Zhenro Properties and Yuzhou Properties taking home $1.15bn between them on Tuesday.

Public sector borrowers printed over $10bn of bonds on Tuesday in a dollar market that SSA bankers expect to keep its momentum in the weeks ahead.

Deutsche Bank returned to the covered bond market to issue a perfectly choreographed Pfandbrief. The deal was launched into a relatively quiet market and quickly attracted strong demand, enabling leads to set terms very early in the day despite underlying market concerns.

Financial institutions have largely shied away from raising debt in the euro market this week, despite a general improvement in financing conditions. With banks cautious about a number of possible risks to market stability, issuance volumes could be set to remain subdued.

CPPIB Capital was comfortably oversubscribed for its $2bn trade on Monday with the dollar SSA market remaining attractive at the short end. Agence Francaise de Developpement, KfW and Kommuninvest will look to tap into lucrative conditions in the currency after mandating banks for deals on Tuesday.