Deutsche Bank

Victory City International has received commitments for its HK$1.5bn ($193m) loan. While the transaction is not yet oversubscribed, more banks are set to join and there are now talks on increasing the final deal size by roughly HK$300m.

AIA Group is meeting investors in the US this week for what would be the issuer’s second dollar bond.

The list of Chinese firms eyeing up an US IPO has just gotten longer thanks to mobile game developer Chukong Tech, which is planning to raise $150m in the second half of the year, according to a banker close to the deal.

Demand for Beijing Energy’s credit enhanced $300m three year bond this week was fuelled by a rare opportunity to gain exposure to Agricultural Bank of China risk — and a growing feeling that standby letters of credit (SBLC) structures may soon by banned by the regulator.

Quasi-sovereign Indian Railway Finance Corp generated more than $3bn in demand for its $500m five year bond this week, as investors jumped at the chance to diversify away from China and Korean credits — and also took a bet that the bond would be included in the EMBI.

A five year facility that will be used to finance oil purchases by BP from Rosneft will likely not reach its initial expected amount of up to $5bn.

Corporate bond issuance is set to get busier again in Europe next week, bankers say, with a drive-by deal also possible on Friday.

Covered bond spreads are so tight that there is almost no scope for secondary performance, bankers have warned. “Core markets are in a zone of low oxygen,” one said on Tuesday, as KBC Bank priced a deal within a few basis points of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Deutsche Kreditbank.

ThyssenKrupp sold a €1.25bn 5.7 year bond on Wednesday. The investment grade-style deal had a 15bp-20bp new issue premium and performed in the aftermarket, suggesting strong demand for crossover credit.

Sberbank printed $1bn of subordinated debt on Tuesday at a price that three syndicate managers away from the deal said was very aggressive. After being priced at par, the note was trading at 99.75-100 on Wednesday morning, initially indicating that the leads were right to push it, but it had sunk as low as 98.875 on Thursday afternoon, fuelling thoughts that pricing was too tight for the deal size.

The covered bond primary market lived up to supply expectations this week with five issuers tapping the market in the first two days of the week. BNP Paribas stood out, showing the strength of its brand, and the market, by pricing the tightest French covered bond deal of the year.

Demand for dollar deals from a pair of German issuers surpassed expectations this week, as Erste Abwicklungsanstalt followed a heavily oversubscribed print from KfW with its debut benchmark in the currency — and had to increase the size in the face of strong demand.