JP Morgan

Metropolitan Life landed a good price on its return to the Aussie dollar market on Thursday, thanks to tightening spreads and a scarcity of high rated financial paper.

The People’s Republic of China returned to the European market on Wednesday, part of its plan to make euro bond outings an annual exercise. The €4bn transaction was a blow-out, with the order book well oversubscribed — and one of the three tranches achieving the sovereign’s first negative yield. Morgan Davis reports.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development landed $1.5bn of five year paper on Wednesday — $500m more than it was originally targeting, thanks to stronger than anticipated demand.

Qatar National Bank, by assets the largest bank in the Middle East and North Africa, has raised a dual tranche $3.5bn syndicated loan, one of the largest emerging market loans signed this year.

As investors sought gold and silver as a hedge against inflation and uncertainty, investment banks with the capabilities to act in these markets benefitted. Some made more than $100m in precious metals in the third quarter, according to Coalition Greenwich.

Abertis Infraestructuras, the Spanish toll road company, got blowout demand for its hybrid capital issue on Tuesday, as appetite for riskier debt returned to the corporate bond market.

Dollars was the flavour of the day for public sector borrowers on Tuesday as three issuers headed to the currency, raising a combined $12bn. Two more SSAs will follow with dollar deals on Wednesday.

A pair of smaller names were tempted into the euro market on Tuesday, after Monday’s news that scientists have developed another successful vaccine for Covid-19 led to a further improvement of market conditions.

A flurry of Gulf issuers was on track on Tuesday to securing last minute bond funding, as investor appetite appeared insatiable for emerging market debt amid a rally that may well be curtailed by the impending US Thanksgiving holiday.

Chinese housing-related platform operator Ke Holdings, which listed in August in New York, is back again to the equity market. It is looking to raise around $2.6bn from a follow-on offering.

The People’s Republic of China is planning a comeback to the euro bond market this week, one month after selling its first dollar trade in the US.

The high grade corporate bond market burst into life on Monday, with mandates for a diverse range of trades from hybrids to sustainability-linked bonds hitting screens to take advantage of the unexpectedly positive November issuance window.