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Metinvest, the Ukrainian metals and mining company, has refinanced the bulk of its pre-export finance (PXF) facility through the loan market, though some of its lenders have switched out of the loan to buy its concurrently issued bonds.

Gruppo EF Solare Italia, Italy's leading photovoltaic solar energy company, has signed a €1bn project finance loan to refinance its debt after rapid growth through acquisitions.

Mining company Polymetal has converted an existing $80m bilateral credit facility with ING into a sustainability-linked loan. It is the first loan market activity from Russia since the US announced a fresh round of sanctions against some of the country’s oligarchs.

BBVA has complete the first global corporate loan transaction using blockchain technology, just as a blockchain-based tool for syndicated lending backed by global banks goes live.

Chinese technology giant Huawei postponed its debut euro bond late on Wednesday after final terms had been released, following news of a US investigation into whether the company had violated sanctions against Iran. While Huawei had enough support to go ahead with its transaction, it put the deal on the back burner to maintain its standing with investors, said bankers. Morgan Davis reports.

The benchmark US Treasury 10 year yield moved through the 3% level this week, creating what some say was unnecessary panic in the market. That was clearly reflected in the dollar bond issuance in Asia, with some borrowers ploughing ahead with well-received 10 year transactions and others ditching the tenor altogether. Addison Gong reports.

Turk Eximbank on Thursday* opened books on a new six year bond following the Central Bank of Turkey’s decision to hike rates by 75bp the day before.

Chinese technology equipment company Hauwai dropped a planned dollar tranche on its latest visit to the corporate bond marker and chose to issue its first bond in euros. This did, however, mean the company opted for a five year maturity, rather than the 10 year tenor it had marketed for the dollar bond.

On Monday, Dutch car leasing company LeasePlan added a €500m fixed rate bond to its 2018 issuance tally, but found more limited demand than its previous deals.

After selling €4.6bn of loans in March, Unilever Spreads unveiled the €1bn high yield bond portion of its leveraged buyout funding package on Wednesday. But as well as jumbo deals, other borrowers with smaller offerings are also vying for investor attention.

A director on ING’s syndicated loans desk has moved to a different job, creating a vacancy that the bank intends to fill.

Lukoil has raised a $600m 10 year export credit agency-backed loan via its Uzbekistan subsidiary, as bankers say the loan market remains open for some Russian borrowers.