Europe

The distinction of being the widest constituent in the Markit iTraxx Europe is clearly one that most companies would prefer not to have. Yet Glencore has held this dubious honour since before the last index roll in March. It had a challenger in fellow miner Anglo American, but Anglo’s downgrade to junk and consequent removal from the investment grade index left the field open to the Swiss firm.

Worries over an Italian constitutional reform referendum have driven a wedge between Italy and Spain’s sovereign bond curve, which is at a level not seen since January 2015, according to a note from Société Générale.

French retail group Fnac printed its €650m seven year notes at 3.25% on Thursday, below the deal's initial price range, as it won plenty of demand from domestic investors.

LBBW and Crédit Agricole rode through this week’s spread volatility to price tier two bonds before the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday policy meeting.

German industrial packaging firm Mauser launched a €537m term loan refinancing with a lender call on Thursday afternoon, while at the same time fellow German firm Orion Engineered Carbons was set to close its repricing request.

US car rental provider Avis this week followed rival Hertz to the euro market and sold a €300m bond, increasing the deal from its initially marketed size.

A surprise upgrade from Standard & Poor’s has prompted Hungary’s international debt to rally 30bp and take its credit default swap surging inside that of Italy, the most traded sovereign CDS reference entity.

Three UK property investment companies have turned to private debt markets in recent weeks for long term funding. Despite the compressed spreads in the public sterling bond market, the PP market continues to have loyal adherents.

Despite its technical strength, Europe’s corporate bond market has sagged this week, as negative rates discourage issuers from pre-funding and slow the pace of supply.

Italian spirits company Gruppo Campari has signed a €300m three year term loan with three banks to repay US private placement notes signed in 2003 and 2009, in an effort to reduce its funding costs.

Korea Housing Finance Corp and Cariparma Crédit Agricole have hired lead managers to arrange investor meetings, with a view to issuing covered bonds in dollars and euros, respectively.

National Bank of Canada issued a rare seven year euro covered bond on Thursday and although it offered virtually no concession, it was highly subscribed, despite secondary market profit-taking.