HSBC

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For the first time this year the supply of covered bonds issued in currencies other than the euro led primary flows. Issuers in Australia, Canada and Norway launched benchmarks in dollars and sterling leaving euro issuance trailing.

Santander and UniCredit reopened the door to the additional tier one market this week only to find what lay behind it was a very different dynamic from the one borrowers experienced before summer. An expected burst of supply is on the way and historically low coupons are causing investors to shy away from the AT1 from major European banks.

National Australia Bank attracted a high level of European demand for a dollar denominated deal on Tuesday. The unusually broad distribution paid testimony not only to the novel syndication approach, but also the tempting outright yield relative to what would have been seen in euros.

Dutch business publisher Bureau van Dijk has started the autumn run of leveraged loan deals, launching a €620m loan to back its buyout by EQT.

A trio of issuers printed oversubscribed deals in dollars this week, including the Inter-American Development Bank’s largest ever dollar global. More borrowers are eyeing issuance in the currency given the impressive levels of demand on offer, although holidays next week will make windows of issuance few and far between.

Alfa Laval, the Swedish maker of fluid handling machinery, attracted very strong demand on Thursday when it returned to the bond market after a long absence — even though it came on the same day as a hotly anticipated press conference of the European Central Bank.

China Taiping benefited from strong regulatory support for the Chinese insurance sector on Wednesday, managing to price a perpetual bond 42.5bp inside initial guidance on the back of strong demand. Bankers say the transaction marked a change of sentiment towards the credit as its previous transactions had not received much demand.

Bureau van Dijk, the Dutch business publisher, held a well attended London bank meeting this morning for its €620m loan, during which original issue discounts were released for all three tranches of the deal’s term loan.

Colombian utility Empresas Públicas de Medellín, has sold a COP965.745bn global peso deal at a yield of 7.625%. The note was three times subscribed, according to a syndicate official away from the deal, who added that the deal was a positive indicator of growing local currency demand.

German internet service provider United Internet has mandated banks for a mid-term loan and a bridge facility totalling €1.382bn to fund its acquisition of KKR's stake in Versatel and its investment in e-commerce venture capital house Rocket Internet.

HSBC veteran Annemarie Ganatra has resurfaced at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong as the bank’s new head of MTNs.