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Fundamentals are becoming more important again in Europe’s corporate bond primary market, but the power of the European Central Bank technical trade in the secondary market is quickly washing away new issue concessions.

The prickly start to the year continued in Europe’s corporate bond market on Wednesday, as hybrid issues for Spanish toll road firm Abertis Infraestructuras and German oil and gas firm Wintershall Dea received opposite reactions from investors.

Senior ING banker Herry Cho is moving to the Singapore Exchange to take on a newly created position as head of sustainability and sustainable finance.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market is showing no signs of slowing down, with new issues again breezing through fair value.

UniCredit raised €2bn of preferred senior funding with a careful trade on Tuesday, as investors come to terms with a new pricing paradigm in the bank bond market.

Russia’s Sovcombank has entered the ESG loan market for the first time, raising a $350m syndicated loan. An increasing number of Russian corporates are turning to the green financing sector as a way to diversify funding.

Fundamentals are becoming more important again in Europe’s corporate bond primary market, but the power of the European Central Bank technical trade in the secondary market is quickly washing away any new issue concessions issuers have to give.

Société Générale failed to match BNP Paribas for demand in the sterling market on Monday, after following its peer by launching a new non-preferred senior trade in the currency.

LBBW and Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) were met with muted demand on Monday morning as the pair ventured into a busier, yet weaker market in search of senior non-preferred debt.

Indonesian garment company Pan Brothers has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings for the third time in the past three months as a result of refinancing pressure.

Hong Kong-listed Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group and China Hongqiao Group have added to the burst of convertible bond activity in the first week of 2021, raising a combined $900m from the equity-linked market on Thursday.

Non-preferred senior and holding company issuance was the focus for bank borrowers in euros this week, in what has been a slow start to the year by FIG market standards. With cheap central bank funding on offer, issuers have opted to start their funding programmes by filling their regulatory buckets.