Euro

Greece’s return to bond issuance on Tuesday drew praise from bankers across the SSA sector, who are now eagerly waiting to see whether the book — much smaller than its previous comeback bond in April 2014 — trumps that older deal for quality.

Some may question whether Greece should have waited until after the summer before bringing its second comeback bond in three years, but the issuer and the banks should be applauded for a job well done. Now the focus must turn to debt relief.

After Monday’s British flavour to corporate bond issuance, German property company, Grand City Properties, and French food services company, Sodexo, brought deals to the market on Tuesday. Grand City printed a €600m nine year new issue and Sodexo tapped its €600m 0.75% April 2027 deal for €200m.

Fitch has revised its outlook on Spain’s credit rating to positive despite the sovereign facing a potentially destabilising referendum in October.

Greece is set to make its much rumoured return to the debt markets this week, bringing a new five year bond alongside a switch and tender offer for its original comeback issue, an April 2019 sold three years ago. Bankers away from the trade expect the trade to go well, despite coming just as the summer slowdown is set to start.

Just one borrower occupied European high yield bond pipeline at the start of this week giving the impression the market is about to slow for summer. Bain Capital’s hygiene product supplier Diamond, is out on a roadshow.

DS Smith was warmly welcomed back to the European corporate bond markets by investors, nearly two years after its inaugural deal. The UK packaging company received a strong orderbook for its euro tranche, but an even stronger book for its debut sterling tranche.

Italian electricity network operator Terna brought its first new issue of 2017 on Wednesday and benefitted from strong demand for triple-B rated bonds. The €1bn 10 year deal had an orderbook of €1.6bn and printed with a new issue premium of 8bp-10bp.

Tranche 1: €3bn Reg S only

Eurofins Scientific and Thermo Fisher Scientific both held investor update calls on Monday — and both announced deals on Tuesday. The science double bill proved no horror story, though, with investors clamouring for unrated Eurofins as well as Thermo Fisher’s jumbo multi-tranche deal.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced in May that it was to acquire Patheon for $7.2bn, including $2bn of net debt. Thermo Fisher expected to finance the deal with $5.2bn of debt and $2bn of equity. On Tuesday it put a big dent in the debt figure with a €2.6bn four tranche corporate bond offer.

Steinhoff Europe made its debut in senior euro corporate bond markets on Monday and was the only issuer to offer investors a transaction on the day. The €750m 7.5 year deal followed a European roadshow last week.