Europe

With most European markets in summer slowdown mode, UK-headquartered hotelier Intercontinental Hotels tapped the sterling market on Tuesday for a £350m bond.

German pharmaceuticals firm Riemser allocated its €256m term loan dividend recapitalisation on Tuesday, according to one banker. The deal comes as deal flow in the levloan market dissipates.

Borrowing conditions for Russian issuers are the best they have been since 2013 and as changes to onshore funding conditions push more borrowers offshore, several corporates as well as the sovereign are expected to raise international money ahead of the US elections in November, according to DCM heads at VTB and Sberbank.

Issuance may be lagging on last year, despite a recent pick-up, but investors are still turning to high yield for returns, Fitch Ratings said in a report on Wednesday.

NRW.Bank will on Tuesday become the latest public sector borrower to enter a super strong dollar market that shows no sign of shutting down for the summer, after the German agency mandated banks on Monday.

Trader Media East, the largest classified advertising firm in central and eastern Europe, has said it will carry out a seven-for-one share offering worth $88m net of expenses.

Central banks’ power to trigger demand in corporate bond markets was on show this week after investment grade sterling bond funds recorded their highest ever level of inflows, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts.

Dutch telecoms firm Ziggo made a bumper increase to its $1.6bn refinancing earlier this week, more than doubling the size of the loans offered and stunning some investors.

While some believed Brexit would be a blow to high yield, it is instead a gentle tap on the shoulder, according to Nationale Nederlander Investment Partners, with the market still set to benefit from investors' search for yield.

After a busy year of loan financing, investment manager Foresight Solar Fund is ready to make acquisitions, after under-performing in the first half of the year.

Bankers expect a slowdown in primary supply this week, as FIG issuers reflect on an unseasonably busy period for new issuance. But opportunistic trades remain possible, as spreads tighten across the sector.

A $3.5bn dual-tranche borrowing to back Tencent Holdings' acquisition of an up to 76.9% stake in Supercell has gone into general syndication.