Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs has added two senior executives to its investment banking division in Hong Kong who will focus on equity and equity-linked products.

The euro market is providing borrowers with superb execution — KfW gathered its largest ever book for a 10 year on Tuesday — but investors are requiring healthy new issue concessions in order to commit.

January’s impressive pipeline of sovereign issuance is starting to unload, as Italy and Portugal hit screens on Tuesday for their first syndications of the year.

The European Investment Bank on Tuesday produced its largest dollar deal in nearly three years — and its biggest book in even longer — in what bankers said was a clear signal of the strength of demand in the currency. The Inter-American Development Bank is next up in dollars, and more supranationals could still enter the fray this week, with supply expected to keep at a rampant pace until mid-February.

The list of European leveraged loan deals for January is rapidly growing, with multi-billion offerings in euros, sterling and dollars as borrowers seek low margins. But some buyers believe the market is becoming too hot, too fast.

Investors lapped up Longfor Properties Co’s $800m bonds on Monday, in a vote of confidence not just for the investment grade rated Chinese company but also the broader property industry.

Property companies Country Garden Holdings Co (CoGard), Times Property Holdings, Tahoe Group Co and Wharf Real Estate Investment Company hit the dollar debt market in force on Tuesday.

Cellnex, the Spanish telecoms company, has joined the ranks of Europe’s equity-linked issuers after successfully placing a €600m debut convertible bond.

The equity block trades market in EMEA opened the week on Monday night with a TL496m ($132m) sale of stock in Mavi Jeans, the Turkish jeans maker that floated in Istanbul last year. The trade was covered inside an hour.

MLP Sağlık Hizmetler, also known as MLP Care, the largest private healthcare provider in Turkey, has begun investor education for its flotation on Borsa Istanbul, in which it hopes to raise about TL500m ($133m) of primary proceeds.

The European Investment Bank is set to bring its first core currency trade of the year, after hiring banks on Monday for a March 2023 global dollar benchmark. Despite a strong start to the year for the currency last week, no other dollar deals from SSAs are on screen — but a new issuer could join in the next few months.

KfW and Dexia Crédit Local are first out the blocks in what looks set to be a busy euro market for public sector borrowers this week.