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Two UK airports set to sell US private placements - Market first as Northern Irish housing association seeks US PPs - Kernel set to secure yet another facility, as EBRD continues Ukrainian push - RMB Mauritius secures loan, months after dollar debt transfer

A pair of Eastern European corporate borrowers are in the market for dollar paper on Thursday, taking advantage of excellent market conditions to secure cheap funding.

Corporate bond issuance in euros was busy again on Tuesday, with four deals, but they were moderately sized, so the total was nothing like Monday's haul of €6bn and £1.25bn.

The first deal of the September rush set an impressive bar for a rush of borrowing from its peers in the commodities sector. Russia's Severstal pulled off an $800m five year bond priced flat to its curve, achieving the lowest yield ever for a corporate from the region.

Severstal, a Russian steel manufacturer, hit screens on Monday morning with a five year dollar benchmark.

De Volksbank was three times subscribed for its debut green bond this week, despite not offering much in the way of yield or new issue premium to its investors.

The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), made its Uzbekistani som debut this week to take advantage of funds flowing into EM currencies thanks to low rates in dollars. Elsewhere, euro investors are looking at the ultra-long end of the SSA market.

Credit Suisse and SpareBank 1 priced deals in senior format this week, choosing longer maturities to avoid entering negative yield territory. SpareBank 1’s €500m green bond attracted demand of €700m but leads were not able to tighten pricing to the tight end of their price guidance.

The frenzy of investment grade corporate bond issuance in Europe intensified on Thursday, when eight companies came to market, issuing a total of €6.6bn of paper in euros. That brought the total for the first four days of this week to over €20bn. Despite the heavy supply, issuers have found sufficient demand to support their notes.

Investors were given a double dose of green paper from the Philippines this week, as Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) rolled out a $300m sustainability bond a day after Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) sealed a green deal.

Ukrainian grain and sunflower producer Kernel is set to amend and extend an existing syndicated loan, according to bankers familiar with the deal. The transaction marks one of the few intermittent spots of activity in the Ukrainian loan market.

Sparebank 1 priced a seven year senior preferred bond in green format on Wednesday at mid-swaps plus 65bp. The €500m bond attracted demand of €700m but leads were not able to tighten pricing to the full extent of their ambitions.