HSBC

Two international banks announced this week that they had helped clients complete two way RMB sweeping transactions outside the Shanghai pilot free trade zone (FTZ). Chinese regulators expanded the pilot scheme to the entire country in November 2014.

A $3.1bn piece of Tata Steel’s $5.6bn multi-trancher was signed in December with 34 lenders. The deal has been singled out for praise by many loans bankers for its structuring that led to success despite the borrower operating in the troubled steel sector.

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

Covered bond issuers from outside the Eurozone launched deals this week denominated in sterling and Australian dollars. But a bigger proportion were from the Eurozone where borrowers launched deals in the single currency in maturities that ranged from four to 20 years. The transaction were priced generously and enjoyed a solid reception, with central banks taking a back seat.

Dutch cable company Ziggo accelerated its dual currency bond issue to price it on Wednesday after its sister company, Virgin Media of the UK, had sold the first bond of a restructuring plan involving four Liberty Global cable subsidiaries.

The covered bond market enjoyed its busiest week in the last three years as 16 borrowers launched benchmarks with a nominal value of €13.5bn ($15.70bn) across a range of currencies and tenors. But investors clearly showed a preference for the seven year — of which there were seven deals, accounting for half of this week’s supply.

German online hosting provider Host Europe set out price guidance on £535m-equivalent of leveraged loans on Thursday, as part of its acquisition of Intergenia.

The Swiss National Bank’s shock decision to unpeg its currency from the euro on Thursday morning made selling a new May 2023 bond a tougher than normal task for Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale, although the deal still hit full subscription, according to one of the leads. With the European Central Bank expected to announce sovereign quantitative easing next week, the window for eurozone issuers to print is getting smaller — although a new agency is known to be looking.

Enel, Italy's leading power company, announced on Wednesday that it would issue a benchmark 10 year bond in an exchange offer for up to €5.5bn of existing bonds, as part of a liability management exercise. The transaction is meant to extend Enel's maturity profile.

HSBC has picked Ehren Vokes as its new head of ECM southeast Asia following the departure of Matthew Song, according to sources.

The Republic of Indonesia started 2015 in style on January 8 with a $4bn dual trancher that was five times subscribed. The overwhelming demand meant the sovereign was able to shave 150bp off its funding costs.

China Huarong Asset Management and China Railway Signal & Communication Corp (CRSC) are lining up to take the Hong Kong market by storm this year, with both companies looking to bring multi-billion dollar IPOs soon.