Europe
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Insurance companies are finally picking up bond issuance after a first quarter that suffered the lowest issuance volumes since 2017. Finnish firm Sampo was the latest issuer this week. -
Volvo, the Swedish lorry maker, took advantage on Friday of recent upgrades to both its ratings by issuing its first public euro bond since 2014. The decision seemed to pay off: the deal was six times covered, and priced close to or even through fair value.
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PKO Bank Hipoteczny has published its green covered bond framework which complies with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles, the Climate Bonds Initiative’s standard for residential buildings and has a second party opinion from sustainability rating agency, Sustainalytics.
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Metro Bank completed its long awaited equity capital raise on Thursday night, providing a rare bit of good news to UK bankers and investors despondent over a tortuous Brexit process.
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Garanti Bank has closed its loan refinancing at $783m-equivalent after receiving an orderbook of over $1bn. The borrower has welcomed 14 new lenders, as banks demonstrate their commitment to troubled Turkey.
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Slovenska Sporitelna is planning to market its first internationally syndicated Aaa-rated euro covered bond, which could be sold in benchmark size. The expected deal follows Slovak Vseobecna uverova banka’s (VUB) €500m five year which was one of the best performing trades this year.
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Thursday’s corporate bond new issue action in Europe confirmed the picture presented on Wednesday: that investors were determined not to let macroeconomic issues bother them, and were piling into new issues. The day was less blemished than the previous one had been by volatility, enabling issuers to get some very tight spreads.
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Vesteda, the Dutch housing company, proved there was plenty of hunger for green bonds on Thursday, when its first issue of the kind, a €500m no-grow eight year, hoovered up orders to finish six times oversubscribed.
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KKR, the US private equity firm, issued its first euro bond on a crowded day on Wednesday, competing with four other issuers, but that did not stop it achieving attractive execution.
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Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), the US financial software company, honoured Europe’s bond markets this week with the lion’s share of the debt financing for its takeover of Worldpay, the payments group that began as part of Royal Bank of Scotland, for an enterprise value of $43bn.
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