Europe

It was a mixed picture in the dollar public sector bond market on Thursday. A Norwegian agency was able to tighten the spread of its five year fixed rate trade on the back of a well subscribed order book. But a supranational was not able to achieve the same momentum for an intraday three year Sofr-linked floating rate note.

Eika Boligkreditt this week placed the most deeply negative yielding non-German covered bond since credit market volatility spiked two weeks ago. The deal, issued on Thursday, will help participants gauge just how far spreads have moved, setting the market up for more active issuance in March when demand is expected to materialise on the back of a considerable widening in the Bund/swap spread.

JP Morgan’s latest high-level reshuffle has put a crack team of dealmakers at the top of the firm, and opened room for new leaders to come up. But keeping senior bankers happy can be difficult, writes David Rothnie.

SIG Combibloc, the Swiss food and beverage packaging company, took advantage of strong demand among ECM investors to price a Sfr539.6m ($564.1m) block trade, growing the deal in the process.

Insurance debt valuations have taken a hit as the Covid-19 coronavirus has spread across the world. In the short term the sector is worried about suffering an indirect impact from the outbreak, but companies are also braced for more claims if the virus reaches pandemic status.

Bank debt investors are growing increasingly nervous about the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus, arguing this week that the risks in the market still outweigh the rewards.

British American Tobacco is considering switching its existing revolving credit facility from Libor to Sonia, following Royal Dutch Shell’s trail-blazing Sofr-linked syndicated loan last year. The move would demonstrate a more galvanised move away from Libor in the loan market.

Rating: Ba1/BB/BB+

Cadent Gas launched what by some counts is only the second transition bond on Wednesday and achieved a stellar reception in the market. The €500m no-grow bond was priced without a new issue concession and tightened sharply on the break, according to a banker on the deal.

HSBC is moving its securities services business into global markets to create a new unit. Allegra Berman and Richard Godfrey, co-heads of securities services, will gain new responsibilities as part of the change.

Shares in Intu Properties, the UK real estate investment trust focused on shopping centres, tanked this week after the company said on Wednesday morning that it has called off its £1bn-plus rights issue due to “extreme” market conditions.

Luminor Bank attracted strong demand for its debut covered bond on Wednesday, the first under Estonia’s legal framework and the first from the Baltic region. Despite a negative reoffer yield, it attracted a higher subscription ratio than any other five year euro benchmark issued this year.