HSBC

Chinese borrowers continued to find strong response for their dollar bonds on Wednesday, despite the Covid-19 virus outbreak plaguing the country.

Siemens, the German machinery group, paid an average yield of 0.12% for €4bn of debt spread over three to 12 year maturities this week, as investors leaped at the chance to snap up highly rated corporate debt.

Foreign investors maintained their strong bid for Gulf bonds this week, taking half the allocations for a $750m five year sukuk deal from Boubyan Bank.

Two sterling public sector bond issues were announced on Tuesday, but aside from timing, the trades had little in common. The UK Debt Management Office printed £2.5bn at 50 years, while the International Finance Corp raised £350m with a seven year.

Banco BPM tightened pricing by nearly 30bp for its debut non-preferred senior bond on Tuesday, with investors backing Italian credits as a source of value compared with other assets in the euro area.

Siemens, the German machinery group, launched a €4bn and £850m multi-tranche jumbo bond issue on Tuesday, blowing away worries that similar deals from last week had started to saturate the market.

Right Lane, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings, has returned to the market for a $350m loan.

India’s Avenue Supermarts has raised Rp40.98bn ($575.2m) after sealing its qualified institutional placement above the floor price.

Two European borrowers hit screens on Monday morning at the short end of the euro curve, with a third set to follow suit on Tuesday as issuers. Both of Monday’s deals received extraordinarily strong demand.

High grade corporate bond investors in Europe will have a range of names to pick from in the coming days, as US white goods maker Whirlpool mandates for euros and UK utility Welsh Water hires banks for a dual tranche sterling deal.

The International Finance Corp is set to become the latest public sector borrower to head to the seven year part of the sterling bond curve, in an attempt to achieve a more attractive funding cost when swapping out of the currency.

Marel, the Icelandic company that makes food processing equipment, has signed a €700m revolving credit facility, becoming the latest investment grade borrower to switch its bank debt to a sustainability-linked structure.