HSBC

Equity capital markets bankers are ready for the UK general election to produce a period of disrupted markets if the result is inconclusive — but they emphasise that wider factors governing supply and demand for European stocks are likely to be the dominant factor in whether UK ECM is busy for the rest of 2015.

Swedbank returned to covered bonds on Wednesday for its third funding exercise of the year, deciding to launch in Reg S format for its first dollar benchmark of the year instead of using its 144A programme. The decision came as the euro rates markets suffered a further bout of intraday volatility following last week’s instability.

NordLB put its debut additional tier one print on ice on Thursday morning, with a sharp sell-off in AT1 paper causing the leads to postpone the deal.

Votorantim Cimentos on Thursday morning opened books on the first international Brazilian deal since a Petrobras corruption scandal in November. But the euro denominated reopener struggled in a rotten primary market and was unable to move pricing.

The year’s first bank capital deal from China ended with a bang as China Construction Bank (CCB) took full advantage of pent-up demand to print a jumbo $2bn tier two offering. The largest Reg S only tier two from China was not only impressive for its size but also because it was able to achieve a record low spread.

Far East Horizon has been at the centre of its second selldown in less than a month, with KKR offloading shares via a HK$1.54bn ($199m) block trade on the evening of May 4. While there were plenty of orders, they were small in size because of the Hong Kong-listed stock’s recent run-up in value.

HSBC has named a new global head of debt syndicate to replace Jean-Marc Mercier, who moved over to debt capital markets this week.

China Merchants Bank (CMB) New York branch opened books on May 7 to a $500m three year bond, which will be the issuer's first outing in the international debt market. Bankers on the deal hope to see huge demand for China Construction Bank’s bank capital trade spill over to CMB New York's issue.

Sweden priced an oversubscribed $2.25bn three year on Wednesday while a German state attracted strong demand to its debut in the currency.

German airline Deutsche Lufthansa has held an investor call for its postponed hybrid capital bond issue, after making a €133m operating loss in the first quarter of 2015, smaller than a year ago.

Poland's mBank has mandated Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, HSBC and JP Morgan to arrange a bond, with investor meetings starting early next week.

China Construction Bank (CCB) has launched the first bank capital deal out of China this year, taking bids for a dollar tier two offering on May 6.