Europe

A German state is on track to wrap up its funding for the year on Thursday, as an agency from the country is tipped to bring a benchmark next week.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian brewer, submitted a final recommended offer for SABMiller on Wednesday, having raised a record $75bn loan to support the transaction.

Italy could sell three year debt at its lowest ever yield on Thursday, with its secondary levels hovering near all-time lows. It would be the second record breaking auction for the sovereign in two days, after it placed one year bills at its lowest ever level on Wednesday.

Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhone, the French motorways group, stayed with the defensive tactics of its previous bond issuance on Tuesday, raising a €500m 4.3 year floating rate note.

BNP Paribas has tapped the Australian dollar market with a 10 year note on Wednesday, drawing demand from Asian investors.

Deutsche Hypo priced a €500m six year on Wednesday in line with previous German deals, but with a considerably smaller oversubscription ratio than its previous two issues. Bankers were not hopeful the outlook for covered bonds would improve much in the next few months, but took heart from the fact that most investors are obliged to put their money to work.

Russian Copper Company has signed a $200m four year pre-export finance facility with European and Russian banks.

International syndicated lending to Russia has been in the deep freeze for the last 12 months, with only a handful of safe, commodity-backed loans arranged. The European Council will review its sanctions on Russia in a few weeks, but don’t expect the market to thaw.

Santander has completed an overhaul of its London loans team, with four new hires that it hopes will lead the bank to the forefront of Europe’s corporate finance business. The Spanish bank wants a bigger role in high level acquisition finance in western Europe and is also investing in CIB divisions in Asia, eastern Europe and the US.

Alpha Bank has launched a €1.6bn share offer, looking to build on new equity created from a debt exchange as it tries to fill a near €3bn capital hole with private funds.

The Singapore dollar bond market is welcoming a new participant this week with Swiss lender Julius Baer going live on November 11 with an additional tier one trade – the first time a foreign bank is issuing an AT1 in the Lion City.

After waiting more than six months, Luxembourg has obtained its first licence under the renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) scheme. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Europe) received an approval on November 2 and is aiming to get a quota within the month.