HSBC

Duration is for the second time this week the choice for a periphery eurozone sovereign, after Italy mandated banks for a 30 year benchmark on Wednesday. But there was more woe for Greece at the very short end, as yields on its 13 week bills rose by 25bp at auction.

Belarus's request for proposals this week for a $1bn bond issue has once again highlighted the ethical dilemmas investment banks face when working in and for countries with tarnished human rights records.

Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale took a lead from the European Financial Stability Facility on Wednesday, mandating banks for a novel eight year deal. The announcement came the same day as the French agency unveiled its funding target for 2015.

Cheung Kong Property, a newly formed entity that will emerge from the consolidation of the property businesses of Cheung Kong Group (CK Group) and Hutchison Group, will syndicate an HK$55bn ($7.093bn) bridge loan that is being supplied by two banks.

State-owned coal supplier China Shenhua Energy successfully issued its maiden offshore bond market on January 13, fetching $1.5bn across three tranches. The size of the offering was relatively large for a debut issuer although weak commodities prices meant the company had to fork out a new issue concession.

China Huarong Asset Management, which signed up eight pre-IPO investors in August last year for a stake worth around $2.4bn, is slowly moving forward with its Hong Kong listing plans. The IPO, expected to raise at least $2bn but which could go up to as much as $3bn, is set to receive a lot of attention from investors as peer China Cinda Asset Management has performed well since its own listing.

Woori Bank opened books to its first dollar bond this year on Wednesday, January 14, as the South Korean lender was encouraged by the relatively successful outcomes of compatriot Export Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) earlier this week.

Indonesian automobile consumer financer Federal International Finance (FIF) signed a $225m loan in December. The syndicate for the loan, which was led by HSBC and Mizuho and came with a guarantee from the Japan Bank for International Co-operation, consisted entirely of Japanese lenders.

Copper manufacturer Zhejiang Hailiang is planning to meet investors this week for what could be the first dim sum bond out of Asia this year.

Gas Natural, the Spanish gas and electricity company, issued a €500m 10 year bond on Tuesday, attracting €4bn of orders and paying a minimal new issue premium.

Virgin Media expects its leverage to remain within levels set by its parent company Liberty Global, after it raised a £925m-equivalent bond to finance a merger with another subsidiary, UPC Ireland.

Demand was robust for floating rate paper on Tuesday as Commonwealth Bank of Australia sold its first deal of 2015 and Caisse Centrale Desjardins du Quebec (CCDJ) returned to the senior unsecured euro market after an absence of almost five years.