Euro

On Wednesday, US car manufacturer Ford’s finance arm followed its recent trend in using the euro corporate market to fund itself in floating rate note format. It kept its tenors short with a pair of FRNs, but found investors had a preference for the shorter option.

German chemicals supplier Lanxess found a surprising lack of demand for its first bond issue since September 2016, which sent bankers scrambling to re-examine their plans for next week's burgeoning corporate pipeline. Lanxess's struggle comes as new issue premiums and how far deals tighten through the bookbuild are being increasingly scrutinised as the market begins to imagine life in the European corporate bond market without the safety net of quantitative easing. Nigel Owen reports.

On Wednesday, German chemicals supplier Lanxess found a surprising lack of demand for its first corporate bond issue since September 2016. Onlookers suggested this is was not a good sign with a heavy pipeline building for future weeks.

On Wednesday, US car manufacturer Ford’s finance arm followed its recent trend in using the euro corporate market to fund itself in floating rate note format. The company kept its tenors short with a pair of FRNs, but found investors had a preference the shorter option.

Italy’s bonds took a hit on Wednesday afternoon after the country’s president Sergio Mattarella allowed the Five Star Movement and the Northern League — the best performing parties in the country’s general election in March — 24 hours to form a government before he appoints a non-partisan prime minister.

Investors are confident Italian spreads will stabilise after the sovereign widened versus Germany over fears of a potential second general election of the year. There was some evidence of that on Wednesday morning as the country’s yields reversed some of their losses.

The Dutch State Treasury Agency will clear its interest rate swaps at the clearing arm of German derivatives bourse Eurex, it was revealed on Tuesday.

The US corporate bond market has enjoyed strong new issuance volumes in the last two weeks, while the European market has been much quieter. But in emerging from two weeks shortened by public holidays, Europe is preparing to close the gap.

A solitary syndication from KfW broke the otherwise placid waters of the public sector debt market on Wednesday.

A syndicate of 17 banks was mandated to help French shopping centre operator Unibail-Rodamco raise €3bn with four tranches of senior bonds this week. The deal came two weeks after the company sold €2bn of hybrid bonds and completes the funding for its takeover of Australian shopping centre operator Westfield.

German car company Daimler raced from one side of the Atlantic to the other this week to raise €6.7 equivalent from 10 tranches of bonds with tenors from two to 10 years.

Ever since European Central Bank president Mario Draghi announced corporate bonds were to be included in the central bank’s quantitative easing programme, there has been a cacophony of dissenting voices debating the rights and wrongs of the policy. Yet no one seems to be talking about the biggest concern as the end of QE nears: the valuation of bonds the policy has affected.