Goldman Sachs

The African Development Bank (AfDB) this week became the latest public sector borrower to enjoy the red hot dollar market, printing a trade that drew an order book larger than its entire 2012 funding programme. Widening swap spreads have been a major factor in the dollar market’s fantastic run this year but a double whammy of event risk next Wednesday could bring it shuddering to a halt, writes Craig McGlashan.

Swiss telecom company Salt Mobile asked bondholders to waive covenants on some of its old notes while it also tapped them and sold a new floater on Thursday, all to fund a dividend to its owner NJJ Capital. The deals came to fruition but left some bankers and investors concerned about market discipline.

While Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting brought little in the way of material changes, the SSA market is watching closely, expecting a tightening of eurozone monetary policy. Meanwhile, the Joint Laender launched a euro seven year benchmark.

Turkey’s Garanti Bank on Thursday joined the pre-Fed rate rise rush to open books on a senior six year bond with a 35bp-40bp premium.

Chinese high yield names KWG Property Holding and Kangde Xin Composite Material Group Co, as well as unrated Lenovo Group, launched dollar deals on Thursday morning — just one day after Indian high yield issuer Eros International pulled its bond because of weak demand.

The African Development Bank sold its largest ever benchmark on Wednesday, in a deal which bankers said should hammer home the issuer’s “new style” to investors. Meanwhile, Municipality Finance brought its first dollar benchmark of the year.

Salt Mobile, the Swiss telecom company, is asking an issuer-friendly HY market to tap some of its old bonds, waive covenants on them, and fund a dividend to its owner NJJ Capital with a new floater.

The European Stability Mechanism returned to stellar form this week, hitting the sweet spot for euro demand and exceeding its first quarter funding target. Bpifrance Financement will look to follow up the supranational’s success on Wednesday.

Shares in Ascential, the UK events and publishing company that runs the Cannes Lions festival, closed 1.4% higher on Tuesday after Guardian Media Group (GMG) and Apax sold the last of their stock through an accelerated bookbuild led by Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML), Deutsche Bank and Numis Securities.

Deutsche Bank confirmed over the weekend that it was preparing an €8bn rights issue, alongside a fresh strategic overhaul that includes a partial IPO of its asset management division and the reintegration of Postbank.

Nyrstar, the Belgian zinc smelting company, on Friday priced a single-B rated €400m high yield bond, and has launched a tender offer to buy back a €120m 2018 convertible bond.

Goldman Sachs walked away from the euro market with €2bn of floating rate senior paper on Friday, showing its European peers that FRN investors are even there to support deals in the middle of the maturity curve.