Europe

The euro high yield bond pipeline brought five deals to the market this week, as secondary yield spreads and payoff expectations tightened, partially reversing recent trends.

Rating: —/BBB+

Equity investors have endured a volatile year with numerous geopolitical shocks leading to falls in markets and sapping confidence. But now they are positioning for the previously unimaginable, a trade war between the world’s two largest economies and all the ramifications that will follow, writes Sam Kerr.

French insurance companies have helped to drive a stronger bid for longer dated paper in the financial institutions bond market, allowing a rare spate of 10 year trades to surface in euros this week.

Austrian machinery maker Andritz has launched a €300m four tranche Schuldschein, with the intention to see if lenders could be lured out along the maturity curve with its five, seven, 7.75 and 10 year tranches.

Portugal’s planned Panda bond is “being finalised” and the sovereign is “looking closely” at the green bond market, according to the country’s minister of finance.

The sterling corporate bond market has enjoyed its busiest two weeks of 2018 as a number of non-domestic funders decided the move in the cross currency basis swap to a five year high was too good to be ignored.

The outlook for Turkish IPOs is bleak after the country’s president, Recep Erdoğan, appointed a new cabinet which included his son-in-law as new finance minister.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) won an investment grade covered bond rating this week, showing the way for European Central Bank (ECB) repo eligibility to other Greek banks. Along with a more stable fiscal and political backdrop and an imminent exit from its bail-out programme, Greek covered bonds have a good chance of outperforming Italian versions.

Financial Conduct Authority chief Andrew Bailey on Thursday set out the options for forward-looking term rates to replace Libor, a family of benchmarks that he described as “vulnerable to misconduct”.

US cable company Comcast fired a salvo in the acquisition battle for the UK’s Sky, valuing the company at almost £1.5bn ($1.98bn) more than 21st Century Fox’s own improved bid that was announced on Wednesday.

Spain’s Grupo Siro has signed a €240m loan with sustainable features, as green financing continues to make a path into the syndicated loan market.