HSBC

KfW drew strong central bank interest for a sterling tap on Tuesday, becoming the first SSA to print in the currency since last week’s UK general election.

The European Financial Stability Facility took several SSA bankers by surprise on Tuesday, when it mandated for a 30 year tap in an unstable euro market.

Tennet, the Dutch government-owned electricity transmission system operator, has mandated banks for its first green bond and will travel to meet investors next week.

National Bank of Oman is planning a $900m increase to its euro medium term note programme and has won approval for a debut AT1 issue.

Greece’s fudged payment to the IMF and a resumed rates sell-off has bankers already writing the week off in euros, but Pohjola Bank has shown issuers an escape route in sterling.

DP World’s $500m no-grow five year bond is already seven times subscribed. Price guidance has been tightened to 160bp over mid-swaps, plus or minus 5bp.

A double digit rally in Chinese property bonds has tempted Agile Property Holdings back into the market for the first time in over a year. Since its previous outing it has been forced to extend the deadline on a loan, seen the departure and return of its chairman and suffered a credit rating downgrade. Despite that, the borrower is likely to opt for price over size, said bankers.

Two Chinese investment grade credits went head-to-head on May 12 in what was gearing up to be a busy day for Asia’s bond markets, with four dollar trades vying for investors’ attention.

Korea Development Bank has made a bold return to dollar bonds in a deal that bankers claim scored one of the tightest ever spreads for a Korean name. The pricing drew plenty of criticism, but the deal’s defenders are hailing the trade as a success, preferring to focus on the quality of the order book.

Hong Kong listed Chinese company Texhong Textile Group has increased the size of its loan to $110m from a launch size of $90m. The deal, which had three mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners, saw four banks come in during general syndication.

Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp raised $600m with a convertible bond on Monday May 11, in one of the biggest equity-linked deals in the country for years.

Würth, the leading maker of screws and other fastenings, opened the week’s corporate bond issuance in Europe with Monday’s sole corporate deal, drawing a solid order book at a skinny new issue premium.