HSBC

The Republic of Slovenia has repeated its 2020 feat of being the first sovereign issuer in CEEMEA to launch a bond by coming to the market with a mandate on Tuesday. Despite the apparent rush for bond funding, however, many believe that EU funding will provide some of what CEE countries would otherwise have taken from public bond markets.

American insurers Metropolitan Life and Athene Holding had a busy start to the year as they tapped the sterling, euro and dollar markets to issue a quartet of funding agreement backed (FAB) securities.

Indian borrowers re-entered the bond market on Monday, led by the Export-Import Bank of India which printed the country’s first dollar deal of 2021.

Hong Kong’s block market surged back to life on Monday night with a flurry of share sales worth a total of HK$14.19bn ($1.83bn).

Chinese property borrowers reopened Asia’s primary dollar bond market on Monday, with four issuers raising nearly $2bn between them following solid demand from investors.

Wessex Water, the Malaysian-owned UK utility, will become the first corporate borrower to hit the sterling bond market since the transition period for Brexit ended. Bankers expect a strong reception.

The European Investment Bank became the first borrower to tap the sterling market in 2021 on Monday, while KfW is set to follow on Tuesday. While the opening deal went well, the issuers had to contend with some sharp volatility.

Public sector borrowers wasted no time in getting back to business in the euro market in 2021 with one live deal and four mandates all hitting screens on Monday as issuers look to take advantage of an almost full trading week and a supportive market to make a dent in their brand new funding programmes.

A block sale in the shares of Kingboard Laminates Holdings hit the market on Monday evening as its parent and an affiliate looked to trim their stake in the company.

Why have Indonesian state-owned companies seen resounding success in the dollar bond market this year amid the pandemic? Morgan Davis finds out.

Indonesian high yield companies that had limited access to the international bond market this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic are now preparing for a challenging 2021 — unless sentiment gets a dramatic boost from the vaccine news. Morgan Davis reports.

Nobody will forget 2020 in a hurry. It was the year in which a coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, created economic chaos and forced central banks into swift action. The resulting measures helped to underpin financial markets, bringing yields from record highs in March to record lows in December. But the outlook has always remained uncertain for banks and insurance companies, whose balance sheets are yet to feel the full impact of the crisis. In such a testing year, GlobalCapital wanted to reward the bond deals that achieved stand-out results for issuers — in terms of pricing, execution and timing. The winners are presented here.