HSBC

Bank of Communications (BOCOM) priced a three year bond on January 9, relying on strong onshore investor demand to push through a slow bookbuilding process.

A HK$55bn ($7bn) bridge loan for Cheung Kong Property, newly-formed from the consolidation of the property businesses of Cheung Kong Group (CK Group) and Hutchison Group, will be syndicated by the two banks supplying the funds.

Export Import Bank of Korea (Kexim) staged a successful return to the international debt market on January 12, selling a SEC registered dual tranche deal that drew over $6bn of demand. Amid high levels of volatility since the start of the new year, bankers chose a good window for the Korean issuer, which achieved its goals for size and pricing.

South Korea’s Woori Bank raised smaller-than-expected $350m with its first dollar bond of 2015 on January 14. Due to the smaller order book size and slower bookbuilding process than usual, the South Korean lender had to settle for the lower end of what it aimed to raise, but has been enjoying a good performance in the secondary market.

Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ) has mandated five banks to run meetings with fixed investors for what looks to be the first Basel III bond from a non-Chinese bank in the offshore renminbi market.

Investment grade corporate bond issuance soared on Wednesday with a €1.75bn ($2.03bn) dual tranche deal from Toyota Motor Credit; benchmark bonds from Iberdrola and Evonik; and debuts from US Reit WP Carey, and UK charity the Wellcome Trust. In total, €4bn of bonds were issued.

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.