Euro

Two SSA borrowers printed euro benchmarks on Thursday, rounding out one of the strongest weeks of issuance in the currency of the year.

Spanish civil engineering group ACS sold the first senior green bond by a corporate issuer for more than a month on Thursday, following a European roadshow earlier in the week. Green bonds are often said to offer a pricing benefit to issuers, but the company found it still had to pay a significant new issue premium.

French parking company Infra Park sold a new 10 year bond on Thursday to refinance calling a short dated bond and reimbursing a shareholder loan.

French aerospace and defence company Thales took a proven route to success when it sold a new dual tranche deal on Thursday, combining short dated floating rate notes with a fixed rate offering.

Bank of China (BOC) returned to the bond market with a Belt and Road blockbuster this week, raising around $3.2bn from a multi-tranche, multi-currency deal. Addison Gong reports.

Portugal printed its first new long dated benchmark since September 2014, drawing the week’s largest order book in the public sector bond market for its 15 year deal.

The Province of Alberta printed its first ever euro bond on Wednesday, opting to follow its compatriot Ontario in attacking the sweet spot for investors at seven years.

The investment grade corporate euro bond market had shown a steady return to strength after Easter, but Thursday's five-deal spree tested its resolve . The market last saw that many deals on March 15 – a day described by one syndicate banker as a repricing point.

Vehicle makers and their finance arms continued their recent dominance of Europe’s investment grade corporate bond market. Renault, Volkswagen-owned Scania and Peugeot’s joint venture with Santander, PSA Banque, all priced deals on the same day this week, after three issues from their German peers in the previous seven days.

The investment grade corporate bond market has seen a “steady and sensible” start to April according to one investor as it attempts to stabilise following a volatile run through February and March.

Despite the political risk surrounding the formation of the Italian government, one asset manager believes its debt is better value than that of some of its peers in the peripheral Europe.

Bank of China has priced bonds denominated in US dollars, euros and Australian dollars worth $3bn-equivalent, with another two tranches in New Zealand dollars set to be priced on Wednesday. The deal, sold under different branches of the bank, reflects the relentless bid for floating rate notes (FRNs).