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Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, is hunting for a $10bn loan, according to market sources. Plummeting oil prices will send borrowers across the Gulf scrambling to raise financing. But creditors seem happy to plough money into the region, for now. Mariam Meskin reports.

The corporate bond market has returned to some semblance of normality, with Switzerland’s Firmenich and Australia’s APA Group taking the traditional route of holding a roadshow before opening books, and syndicate bankers say the wild, record-breaking weeks for primary issuance are over for now.

Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group, a China-based drug maker, pocketed HK$3.49bn ($450m) from a larger-than-planned issue of primary shares this week.

Two supranationals will take to the market on Thursday to raise money for their socially responsible investment programmes. Inter-American Investment Corporation will raise dollars for its Covid-19 response bond, while Nordic Investment Bank is coming to market for a euro environmental bond. The transactions will share the market with Bank of England’s annual dollar deal.

Spain enjoyed enormous demand for a 10 year syndicated bond on Tuesday, with an order book which was almost double the previous record for a single tranche euro public sector benchmark. Bankers away from the deal said investors were attracted by the big new issue premium on offer.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market faced one of its biggest tests on Wednesday, with France’s Auchan, which operates in the heavily disrupted retail sector, getting a deal away with one of the larger new issue concessions seen in recent weeks.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) hit the market for dollar paper on Tuesday, with the Manila-based supra going for five years and the French agency opting for three years.

Any concerns over Italy’s market access were vanquished on Tuesday when the sovereign received €110bn of orders for a dual tranche bond syndication, allowing it to raise €16bn as it makes inroads into its enlarged funding task in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Switzerland’s Firmenich and Australia’s APA Group have mandated banks to arrange fixed income investor meetings, with both companies looking to recapture the magic of compatriot issuers in recent weeks.

Sweden’s Alfa Laval has amended its revolving credit facilities, with the heavy industry products maker consolidating two old deals into one €900m revolver.

The Export-Import Bank of Korea jumped on the floating rate note bandwagon on Monday, raising $700m from the market. It also added a euro tranche with a green label to its transaction.

Sino Biopharmaceutical’s shares tumbled about 8% on Tuesday after its chief executive officer, Tse Ping, sold a portion of his stake in the company for HK$2.27bn ($292.9m).