Euro

Canadian car parts maker Magna International and French property company Gecina both priced 10 year deals in the European corporate bond market this week. Magna had waited two years since its last euro issue, Gecina just three months.

Oesterreichische Kontrollbank found an almost empty market as it made a strong return to euro issuance after nearly a decade of absence. The lack of other benchmarks surprised some bankers — although opportunistic deals and SRI issuance now seems likely to make up the bulk of the remaining deals this year with most issuers very well funded.

Three sub-investment grade borrowers printed deals in the high yield corporate bond market on Thursday using different tenors to raise a combined €1.06bn.

Spanish gas distribution company NorteGas Energía Distribución was the only investment grade corporate bond issuer in the euro corporate bond market on Thursday. Its debut deal was a €1.3bn five year and 10 year dual tranche offering with order books totalling €5.4bn.

Autostrade per l’Italia, the Italian toll road operator, on Monday printed a €700m 12 year deal to finance a tender offer for up to €650m shorter dated bonds.

The Spanish central government’s stand-off with the executive in Catalonia over an upcoming independence referendum is failing to worry Bono investors — but some bankers believe the market could soon be hit by a bout of volatility unless an agreement is reached. The Spanish situation was in marked contrast to the country’s western neighbour, as Portugal enjoyed a strong week after regaining investment grade status from S&P.

Guarantor: Republic of Austria

Engie, the French energy group, priced its second green bond transaction of 2017 on Tuesday. The triple trancher contained two green clips and took the issuer’s tally to six different green bonds. As issuers start to establish genuine green curves, they are starting to create their own sector, writes Nigel Owen.

Despite the low volatility the corporate bond market has been experiencing for months there can still be fluctuations in new issue premiums and pauses after a sudden rush of issuance. However, the current flow of long lost issuers is helping iron out the bumps.

Order books for the dual tranche high yield bond deal from German pharmaceutical company, Stada, closed at noon on Thursday. Such was the demand for the secured tranche that the deal was was increased by €250m.

Spanish gas distribution company, NorteGas Energía Distribución, was the only investment grade corporate bond issuer in the euro market on Thursday. Its debut deal was a €1.3bn five year and 10 year dual tranche offering.

In September, a number of issuers have returned to the European corporate bond markets after a number of years without issuing. On Wednesday, German chemicals distributor, Brenntag, Australian property company Goodman, and Austrian steel company, Voestalpine, were the latest to join that list.