Goldman Sachs

NRW.Bank’s inaugural social bond sparked a flurry of 15 year trades this week as a flattening French curve and the positive yields on offer helped spur on demand, with three issuers opting to follow the German agency’s successful trip to the maturity on Wednesday.

Poland has become the first CEEMEA country outside the eurozone to sell a bond with a negative yield since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chinese social media platform Weibo Corp returned to the dollar market on Tuesday with a 10 year bond.

The 15 year tenor is the flavour of the week in the SSA market. Three issuers have mandated for deals at the tenor so far, following on from NRW.Bank’s successful trip to the maturity on Tuesday.

Ukraine was set to issue a highly anticipated bond on Wednesday, having started pricing with what some experts called "impressive" initial price thoughts. The deal follows one from Poland, which secured three year money at a negative yield in euros on Tuesday.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Hikma, a Jordanian company listed in London, hit screens this week, raking in cash and proving appetite for credits along the rating spectrum.

NRW.Bank signalled to the market that there is demand at 15 years with its inaugural social bond on Tuesday. Following the deal two other European issuers, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten and Portugal, mandated for deals of their own in the tenor.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Italian-American crossover-rated car company, launched €3.5bn of bonds into the market on Tuesday, days after its Italian arm had agreed €6.3bn of bailout funds guaranteed by Italy.

Weir Group, the UK engineering company, has signed bank lines totalling $1.19bn, but amid coronavirus-related market volatility, banks required a higher margin than on the deal being refinanced.

The Republic of Poland on Tuesday launched a three year euro bond, while Ukraine mandated banks for a 12 year dollar benchmark. Though bankers say the window is finally open for emerging market corporate issuance, there remains robust appetite for govvie debt.

Chinese property companies Times China Holdings and Golden Wheel Tiandi Holdings Co took a combined $470m from the bond market on Monday.

DirectBooks, which plans to bring a new issuance platform for bond markets, has not ruled out the possibility of a partnership with other providers.