HSBC

Sovereigns stole the limelight in the euro market this week with Italy and Spain printing blowouts, but the focus will shift to the European Financial Stability Facility next week. The rescue agency sent out requests for proposals on Wednesday ahead of a benchmark deal for which it has the whole length of the curve open to it, according to syndicate bankers.

Vilmorin & Cie, the French seed producer, launched its first straight bond on Thursday, completing a trio of unrated debuts in the past week, all seven year bonds.

Westpac has priced the first dollar-denominated benchmark covered bond of 2014. On Wednesday the issuer opened books for a five year deal and a three year senior unsecured after mandating Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC and JP Morgan.

Swedbank priced the tightest non-German euro seven year benchmark covered bond in over five years on Wednesday and paid virtually no new issue premium.

Bank Austria opened books on Thursday morning for its third covered bond deal of the year, a €500m seven year public sector Pfandbrief. Despite pricing flat to its curve the deal received one of the highest levels of oversubscription for any Austrian deal in the last two years.

HSBC chairman Douglas Flint said this week that his bank would look at restructuring the group to deliver a capital benefit, along the lines that UBS announced last week.

Motor Oil today priced €350m of five year bonds, having placed most of its bonds with international investors, reflecting the export-driven company’s desire to be seen as an international business.

Risk weighting, credit ratings and the Dubai government itself have all been cited as contributing factors after the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund cut the size of its conventional bond offering in favour of a shorter dated sukuk.

UOB made a strong come back into the Singapore dollar market on May 14, pricing a Basel III compliant tier two bond just two months after tapping the dollar market for capital. Demand from Singaporean investors for the UOB brand, as well as increasing familiarity with the new tier II format meant that the issuer was able to price with no PONV premium.

Citi is set to continue a run of highly oversubscribed 10 year bonds, announcing a self-led trade on Thursday morning. Like deals from BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole earlier in the week, the deal has drawn a bumper book, even as the 10 year bonds from the two French banks continue to trade wide of initial levels.

ICBC Singapore branch attracted strong investor appetite for a 3.5 year dollar bond that priced on Wednesday night, leading the issuer to print at a larger size than planned.

China Construction Bank has mandated banks for a renminbi-denominated bond via its Frankfurt branch next week in a deal that will be the first Frankfurt-issued CNH bond from a subsidiary of a Chinese name — and is only the third Frankfurt-listed RMB bond.