ING

Glencore launched its refinancing of a one year $8.45bn loan today (Thursday), which is hotly anticipated although the margin is set to widen as the company's credit spreads have surged to record levels.

The Government of Mongolia has picked six banks to work on a 144A/Reg S bond that may hit the market as early as next week.

Pohjola Bank and NordLB paid slim new issue concessions for five year senior debt on Wednesday, but market participants pointed to the dangers of pushing spreads in too tightly.

Swedish telecommunications company Tele2 has retained all of the original lenders as it refinances a €800m revolving credit facility.

Poland and Chile dived into the market this week, printing the first CEEMEA and Latin America bonds of the year.

There were dramatic moves in the offshore renminbi market on the morning of January 12 as the spread between onshore RMB (CNY) and offshore RMB (CNH) all but disappeared. And, in a radical development, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) purchases of CNH in Hong Kong drove the overnight CNH Hong Kong interbank offered rate (CNH Hibor) to a record 66.8%.

Republic of Poland offered a healthy concession in the early pricing stages as it ventured into the markets with the first bond from CEEMEA in 2016 on Monday.

Central and Eastern European loans look set to start the year with a bang as a financing of around €2bn for Czech’s Energetický a průmyslový Holding (EPH) should close by the end of this week or early next, according to two bankers on the deal.

The start to 2016’s equity capital markets business in Europe has been tricky, but the action on Tuesday showed that high quality deals can get done very well, provided they come in a suitable window.

Allocations are out for a $145m loan backing the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of Serco’s business process outsourcing assets in India.

Wednesday brought red back to equity traders' screens after a buoyant Tuesday, but trading action confirmed the satisfactory execution of this year’s first two substantial equity capital markets deals in Europe: the €1.03bn block trade in NN Group, the Dutch insurer, and French aerospace firm Safran’s €650m convertible.

Commodities trader Trafigura will next week launch its refinancing of a $5.3bn facility, with Glencore expected to follow shortly thereafter. Bankers believe these issuers will retain support from key lenders, despite their mixed successes in 2015.