Goldman Sachs

The new issue US dollar bond market roared back to life as volatility dropped and corporates took advantage of favourable conditions with $17bn of supply coming from 19 borrowers.

Six of the nine investment grade corporate new issues in the last week of February were announced with a three letter acronym that, while providing clarity, served to frustrate investors keen to see greater volumes of issuance. WNG stands for “will not grow” and this week told investors that the meagre sized deals would not be increased, irrespective of demand.

Private equity firm Advent International has agreed to buy UK electronics company Laird for around £1bn, in a purchase that will be financed with debt.

Baidu-backed video streaming service iQiyi and Chinese hotel operator GreenTree Hospitality Group are readying a pair of US IPOs for the end of March to raise a combined $1.7bn.

Slovenia printed €1.25bn by way of a triple tranche euro bond tap on Wednesday from a book of €4bn, paying small new issue premiums. Marjan Divjak, director general in Slovenia’s Ministry of Finance, said that the country is “more or less done” in the international bond markets for the year.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development set a new pricing bar for 2018 in five year dollars on Wednesday as it equalled its largest ever dollar benchmark size. Municipality Finance was also out in the same tenor, with a trade that leads said had a concession of 2bp-3bp.

Before 2017, US crowd services provider Equinix had not issued a bond in euros. But it has now visited the European high yield market three times, having completed its latest deal on Wednesday.

Books for the Republic of Slovenia’s triple tranche euro bond tap were in excess of €3.6bn by lunchtime on Wednesday, with final spreads having been set for each clip. The deal is part of a liability management exercise that swaps out short dated dollar debt for longer euro denominated paper.

A member of the ECM syndicate team at BOC International in Hong Kong has left to join Goldman Sachs, according to sources close to the move.

Chinese video streaming platform iQiyi filed a draft IPO prospectus with the US market regulator on Tuesday. It is aiming to raise up to $1.5bn from its listing this year.

FMS Wertmanagement on Tuesday took advantage of widening swap spreads to equal the tightest spread to mid-swaps on a five year benchmark so far this year — a level that was “very tight” to KfW, said bankers on the trade. Two other borrowers are lining up to try their luck in the tenor — including one that is aiming for an even tighter spread.

Five new investment grade corporate bond deals were priced on Tuesday and, while pricing was competitive, none of the issuers allowed for any growth in the size of the deals as all five used a no-grow strategy.