HSBC

European banks are trying to lock in funding at longer maturities as they consider whether credit spreads have reached a low point. But demand is less certain at the long end of the market, and some investors are pushing for a higher premium to reflect duration risk.

The UK issued a £4bn index-linked Gilt maturing in 2039 on Tuesday, experiencing hot demand as investors flocked to secure protection from the threat of inflation.

AstraZeneca, the UK drug maker, hit the euro market on Wednesday after printing $7bn across the Atlantic a day earlier. The borrower is building up funds to pay for its $39bn acquisition of US rival Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

CaixaBank was set to launch its first sterling bond on Tuesday as it dipped its toes into a market that is now on course for its busiest week this year to date.

JLEN Environmental Assets, an infrastructure fund, has signed a £170m-equivalent multicurrency sustainability-linked revolver, becoming the latest UK infrastructure company to switch to Sonia as its interest benchmark for sterling drawdowns.

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi raised $2bn on Tuesday, in a deal that bankers said achieved one of the largest negative new issue premiums on any sovereign dollar investment grade bond so far this year.

Zhongyu Gas Holdings, a Hong-Kong listed natural gas distribution company, pulled its debut dollar bond on Tuesday evening after setting final guidance, leading some away from the trade to speculate that an aggressive pricing approach scuppered the deal. But its hiccup didn’t deter other issuers from hitting the market. Morgan Davis reports.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market had a distinctly Spanish flavour on Tuesday as Cellnex and Merlin Properties issued. Some analysts predict that the healthy earnings season might mean a 15% rise in bond issuance from the European market.

UBS Group made a swift return to the dollar bond market on Tuesday, as it went in search of an additional tier one transaction a day after raising $3bn of senior unsecured debt.

The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, one of the highest rated sovereign issuers in the Middle East, was in the market on Tuesday for a seven year dollar bond less than a year after it broke records by issuing the Gulf's longest ever bond.

Bank borrowers returned to a stronger euro bond market on Tuesday, but deal arrangers warned of lingering concern over rates and inflation as KBC Group struggled to draw a crowd for a long-dated offering.

Three Chinese borrowers and one Hong Kong issuer hit the international bond market on Monday, getting ahead of a pick-up in deal flow expected in the rest of the week.