ING

European corporate bond investors showed they were hungry for paper on Thursday, despite the gloom infecting equity markets this week about the prospect of a restart to the China-US trade war. A flurry of issuers came to the market, hot from roadshows, and got plenty of over-subscription while slashing their spreads by 20bp to 30bp.

Sovcomflot, the Russian shipping company, has signed a 10 year loan facility with three international lenders. Russian syndicated loan volumes remain low, but Sovcomflot is widely regarded by bankers as one of the stronger and more established Russian borrowers.

The strength of corporate bond demand, after falls in stockmarkets engendered by the US's hardened stance on trade talks with China, will be tested in the US on Wednesday by a $20bn issue for IBM. In Europe, the test could come on Thursday, since a handful of issuers finished roadshows on Wednesday.

The Co-operative Group, the UK food retailer and provider of funeral, legal and insurance services, launched its first sustainable bond on Wednesday and achieved impressive demand. But that had little to do with its ethical characteristics.

The Co-operative Group, the UK food retailer, undertaker, insurer and legal services provider, has announced a £250m sustainable bond issue which will be unusual in three ways. Green and sustainable bonds are rare in the UK and rare in the high yield market, while the use of proceeds Co-op is planning is close to unique.

Jefferies is nearing the completion of its EM sales and trading team started 2.5 years ago, with two more hires in London.

Spain’s Merlin Properties has signed a €1.55bn sustainability linked loan, with the real estate company becoming the latest in a long line of names to add green and social elements to their bank funding.

Switzerland’s Coca-Cola HBC has amended and extended its revolving facility, with the soft drink bottler supersizing its loan to €800m and including a sustainability element.

Kingspan, an Irish insulation company, has made a €700m offer for two units of Belgium’s Recticel, but will sell one of them if the deal goes ahead.

Despite the very attractive conditions in Europe's corporate bond market in recent weeks, some less regular issuers have missed out on them because they were scared off by the rough markets at the beginning of the year.

Metalloinvest, the Russian steel maker, has signed a sustainability-linked bilateral credit line with ING. It is one of the first sustainability-linked loans for a Russian borrower and comes as ING continues its drive to expand in this area.

German defence firm Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) has signed a €350m loan, joining Port of Rotterdam and FEV Group in the market for similar sized deals amid a wave of mid-market activity in Europe.