Europe

United Company Rusal has added an extra bank to its bond mandate ahead of pricing for the Reg S/144A dollar deal, which is expected on Thursday.

Some banks in Europe's syndicated loan market are worried that investment grade companies are starting to push for looser terms and conditions on their loans, though others deny there is a problem.

Crédit Mutuel CIC issued a €1bn eight year covered bond on Wednesday, but with limited orders some bankers feared the transaction was one of the shakiest seen yet in 2018.

Polyus Gold, Russia’s largest gold producer, has released price guidance for a six year benchmark bond and books for the deal are already over $1.1bn.

Turkey’s Vakifbank was able to increase the size of its deal on Tuesday to $650m after strong demand propelled the book to over $1.7bn, as funding costs return to levels seen before the fourth quarter of 2017.

So far this year, the European corporate bond market has been an issuer’s market without many issuers. Or perhaps, the feeling that this January has been quiet is a measure of how used market participants have become to a torrent of deals.

Options volumes were up 11% in exchanges around the world last year, while futures were down 6.6%, according to new data unveiled by the Futures Industry Association.

Emerging markets are coming to the fore in equity capital markets this year, fulfilling predictions of a good year for ECM issuance from more challenging markets.

New emerging markets bond issues are starting to trickle after a slow start to the week. Political events in the US, as well as Turkey’s military campaign in Syria have proved an unhelpful distraction, though overall the markets remain in good shape.

Onshore investors forced red chip issuer Country Garden Holdings to pull a Rmb1.8bn ($281.2m) three year bond on Tuesday. It would have been the real estate company’s first deal in the Panda market since September 2016.

Representatives of eight central banks including those of France, China, Mexico and the UK are meeting in Paris this week for the first time, as part of a new initiative to share best practice on how to make the financial system greener.

Public sector borrowers wrapped up a trio of short end dollar trades on Tuesday, with the tightest issuer able to grind in pricing to the lowest level from an SSA this year and the higher yielding names finding ample demand despite ending up at similar spreads. SSA bankers are confident that the strong conditions will also ring true at the long end for KfW, which has mandated for its first 10 year dollar benchmark in nearly three years.