HSBC

The Asia ex-Japan bond market finally saw some primary activity on Wednesday with the Republic of the Philippines set to be the first sovereign issuer of the year. The country launched a new 25 year bond and is giving investors the option to switch out of 16 outstanding deals at the same time.

The covered bond market could see the second Singaporean deal soon, with United Overseas Bank (UOB) mandating leads for a series of European investor meetings that could result in its first deal.

Austria has printed €5bn in a dual tranche issuance, pricing in 10 and 30 year tenors as the sovereign took advantage of a window of opportunity arising from a rally in global equities.

By the second day of Saipem’s auction of its unsold rights, all of them had been sold to investors — but with the share price still 3.3% below the subscription price at Thursday's close, the underwriters may yet have to buy up to €427m of stock.

A $1.775bn loan for ONGC Videsh, the international arm of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has attracted commitments from just two lenders in syndication, with the deal due to close by the end of this week.

Austria is to print a 10 year benchmark as investor sentiment rebounded after a torrid time last week as BNG priced a seven year bond.

Multiple FIG bonds hit the primary market for the first time in a month on Monday as European bank stocks continued their rebound to ease the pressure on borrowers.

HSBC has decided to remain headquartered in the UK following an extensive review by its board of directors, ending months of speculation that it could return to Hong Kong.

The University of Leeds kept the UK higher education sector’s run of activity in capital markets this year going at a healthy pace on Friday, as it grabbed a window of stability to print its debut bond.

Supranational and agency borrowers showed their steel once again this week, printing a series of euro deals in the face of strong volatility.

SIF Group postponed its €125m all-secondary Amsterdam IPO on Thursday even after trying for a smaller deal size ahead of books closing. It blamed deteriorated and volatile capital markets.

Standard Bank is in the market for two loans, a $750m deal for Standard Bank of South Africa and a deal for its Kenyan subsidiary, Stanbic Kenya, according to bankers.