Euro

German screws and fastenings wholesaler Würth this week found its domestic investor base had stayed loyal after a three year hiatus from the corporate bond market. However, it also found material offshore interest too.

Two A rated corporates went head to head in the euro corporate bond market on Monday as UK pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline and US electrical systems manufacturer United Technologies Corp both launched triple-tranche deals, with two matching maturities involved in the €4.5bn of bonds.

German chemicals company BASF found substantial demand for its second visit to the corporate bond market to fund its acquisition of Bayer’s seed business.

The first two days of this week saw more than €10bn of bond issuance, with more than a quarter of that volume made up of three deals sold by auto finance issuers. All three deals managed to achieve new issue premiums of 10bp or less, which was tighter than the majority of deals the week before.

German media company Bertelsmann pulled a €500m seven year corporate bond issue on Thursday as the market showed signs of indigestion after what was already one of the busiest weeks of the year for corporate issuance.

A pair of euro borrowers hit screens at the short end of the euro curve on Thursday, but both failed to reach full subscription.

Italy’s political situation may be making investors nervous but the sovereign this week sold the latest line of its BTP Italia product with little fuss — although the domestic skew on the bond makes it a poor barometer of international faith in the credit.

When the euro corporate market attempted to return to full speed after a pause on Wednesday, investors were given a tough choice between three triple-B rated issuers all selling seven year bonds and another selling a sub-benchmark five year tranche. The result was a bad one for issuers.

German media company Bertelsmann pulled a €500m seven year corporate bond issue on Thursday, just hours after launching the deal alongside two other seven year deals.

US pharmaceuticals company Mylan made its third visit to the euro corporate bond market in three years on Wednesday when it sold a €500m seven year deal with a €1.3bn order book.

Italian energy company Enel received €3n of orders for €1.25bn of new hybrid bonds on Tuesday. This showed the insatiable appetite of investors for the product with the enhanced yield it offers and ratings agency Scope expects 2018 to record much more supply that the previous two years.

The African Development Bank is sounding investors for its second ever social bond with an initial price thoughts level that bankers away from the deal felt was “fair”.