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FIG issuers are taking care to announce deals before opening order books this week, as they try and book their places in the market ahead of a tricky meeting for the European Central Bank on Thursday.

Aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group has returned to the loan market for a $200m borrowing.

Mamoura Diversified Global Holding, an Abu Dhabi sovereign investment vehicle, launched a euro bond on Thursday. Issuers with access to and a need for both currencies, investors said, will find a haven in the euro market while volatility in dollar yields continues.

German commercial real estate company DIC Asset has launched its second Schuldschein, for an initial target of €100m, according to a term sheet distributed to investors. The debt’s margins will be tied to the proportion of green assets the borrower has on its balance sheet. Most notably, there is a ‘fast track’ settlement date for banks needing to secure assets before an ECB funding deadline that falls at the end of this month.

Fixed income investors will have a chance to pick up unrated sustainable corporate bonds this week, as Belgian private equity firm Gimv has mandated banks.

Mamoura Diversified Global Holding, an Abu Dhabi sovereign investment vehicle, has mandated banks to sound out interest for a euro bond. The mandate follows a week of issuance in the currency from other CEEMEA borrowers.

NatWest expanded its environmental, social and governance (ESG) offering with its debut social housing bond this week, the first from a UK financial issuer, landing the €1bn deal well through fair value.

Rating: Baa2/BBB/A

Financial institutions have ramped up their sales of green debt at the start of 2021, as they look to take advantage of a quiet funding year by building out their environment, social and governance frameworks. This week, nearly all FIG euro issuance arrived in ESG formats.

Equinix, the US data centre real estate investment trust, got a slightly larger size than expected for its dual tranche euro green bond on Wednesday, but its curve steepened.

Environment, social and governance (ESG) themed debt has dominated the senior market this week, with the format helping to secure more execution certainty in a softer trading environment.

NatWest Group sold the first social housing bond from a UK financial issuer on Tuesday, attracting a highly granular peak order book of over €4.5bn. Investors have latched onto environment, social and governance (ESG) linked bank supply over the past few weeks, with two more labelled deals set to follow in the coming days.