ING

Rentenbank made an impressive entry to the green benchmark bond market this week with its biggest ever order book in euros by overall size and number of accounts. Head of funding Leopold Olma, who has spent 20 years with the German development agency’s funding team, called it the “ultimate transaction”.

Dutch DIY group Maxeda launched a refinancing this week which pushed up its rating, after it took out its 2022s with new 2026 bonds, taking any liquidity constraints for the triple-C rated chain firmly off the table. Despite the pandemic, the retailer has been successfully deleveraging, helped by a boom in home improvements during lockdown.

Commerzbank and Unipol Group ‘ticked all the boxes’ with their new green senior transactions on Wednesday, amassing large orders from investors.

Qatar’s largest bank, Qatar National Bank (QNB), has raised the country’s first green bond, in a deal that achieved a new issue discount while diversifying and expanding the issuer’s investor base.

Rentenbank impressed SSA bankers on Tuesday as rolled out its debut benchmark green bond. The deal is expected to pay no new issue premium at the final spread.

Two Gulf bank issuers — Qatar National Bank and Gulf International Bank — hit bond markets on Tuesday to raise dollar funds, following what has been a busy period for Middle Eastern issuers. With investor appetite remains ravenous and market conditions healthy, there is scope for further issuance.

Rentenbank is moving forward with its plans to issue a debut euro green benchmark bond following a series of investor meetings over the past few weeks.

Issuance in Europe’s high grade corporate market trended towards high beta names this week, with a spate of deals from riskier names, including the first outing for German fallen angel ZF Freidrichshafen since its downgrade.

Bevco, an investment holding company (holdco) owned by the Santo Domingo family; French transport infrastructure company Holding d’Infrastructures de Transport and Irish safety conglomerate Johnson Controls drummed up €12.4bn of demand between them on Wednesday, as investors piled into high grade corporates in the primary market.

Europe’s high grade corporate issuers are increasingly dipping their toes into sustainability bonds, with telecoms company Orange and fashion house Burberry bringing debut deals.

Orange, the French telecommunications company, has mandated for its debut sustainability bond, as some syndicate bankers said that there was evidence that demand for environmental and socially themed debt from corporates rated investment grade was reaching worrying levels.

Singaporean commodities company Mercuria has returned to the offshore loan market for its annual foray.