ING

The holding company of the Bolloré billionaire family is planning to issue an unspecified amount of unsecured notes. Their largest investment, a 26% stake in media giant Vivendi, will be excluded from some of the covenants designed to protect the investors.

One of the more fascinating transactions to reach the Schuldschein market in the past few months is from the European arm of Singapore-listed real estate investment trust (Reit) Cromwell. The transaction’s closing date was postponed by more than a month, as many away from the deal claimed the deal was struggling to find traction. But bankers close to the situation were quick to assure that it was still on track and investors just needed more time to analyse the credit.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has printed a pair of tightly priced currency linked notes, showing that investors are accepting lower yields in return for exposure to potential currency appreciation.

Fitch is forecasting a negative outlook for the issuer ratings of some of the largest lenders in the Netherlands, warning that the early introduction of a risk-weight floor for mortgage assets could weigh on the country’s banking sector through additional capital demands.

Rusal has signed the first internationally syndicated sustainability-linked loan from Russia. The heavily oversubscribed facility is part of a slowly growing shift towards green financing in Russia, said bankers.

The stars aligned for French drink company Pernod Ricard’s return to the bond market, with the issuer printing flat to its curve, or even through it by some estimates, in its first outing since being upgraded by two credit rating agencies.

France’s Pernod Ricard is in the market on Monday for a €1.5bn trade, with the drinks company striking while the iron is hot to print debt after being upgraded by two agencies last week.

ING Poland has issued its first covered bond, a deal secured on green assets denominated in zloty. The issuer plans to return early next year with its first euro denominated green covered bond in benchmark size, said chief executive Boda Miroslaw,

Mann+Hummel, a veteran borrower in the Schuldschein market, struggled to place a Schuldschein, according to market sources, with participants citing ZF Friedrichshafen’s blockbuster transaction as well as the market’s over-indulgence in the auto sector this year as chief reasons.

Russian potash producer Uralkali hit the market on Tuesday, tightening pricing on a $500m bond issue, the borrower's first international deal since 2013. DCM bankers are confident Russian issuance will continue to fill the market throughout the fourth quarter, as Norilsk Nickel began a roadshow.

The Schuldschein market has for many centuries attracted buy-and-hold investors, but this may change as some arranging banks are offering lenders opportunities to buy sections of their own Schuldschein positions. But many fear that the whiff of secondary markets will see regulators reclassify the instrument as a security, instead of a loan.

Kernel, a Ukrainian agricultural producer, hit the market on Thursday with a five year non-call three bond and raised $300m with a trade that bankers said was tricky to price.