JP Morgan

Altice France leapt straight into the market after Friday’s surprise announcement that owner and founder Patrick Drahi would be taking the company private. Research from Federated Hermes shows that the credit spread premium for a private company has dropped to virtually zero for the first time in 20 years.

Big Hit Entertainment, the label behind hugely popular K-pop boy band BTS, this week launched bookbuilding for an IPO that will be worth as much as W962.6bn ($818.4m). The company is the latest to ride a wave of demand sweeping the country’s stock market, causing an over-heating that is pushing prices dangerously high, said bankers. Jonathan Breen reports.

US-listed Chinese companies Zai Lab and Baozun have kicked off secondary offerings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, adding further momentum to the city’s already hot equity capital market.

Hong Kong Broadband Network is enticing banks to a HK$5bn ($645m) loan by offering them a juicier margin than previously.

The Republic of Bulgaria issued a €2.5bn dual-tranche bond on Tuesday to support its expanding state budget, following a raft of its regional peers which are responding to the Covid-19 crisis with substantial deals.

Falck Renewables, the Italian renewable energy company, has issued a €200m green convertible bond, joining the swathe of companies that have moved into the asset class recently.

Commerzbank and Unipol Group ‘ticked all the boxes’ with their new green senior transactions on Wednesday, amassing large orders from investors.

UniCredit sold a $1bn non-preferred senior bond in the dollar market this week, as it made further headway on its total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) plans for next year.

Tensions between the US and China dealt a blow to state-owned utility firm China Three Gorges Corp’s $1bn bond outing, which fell short of the lead banks’ pricing expectations.

Bangkok Bank sold its first Basel III-compliant additional tier one dollar bond on Tuesday, making it a rare bank capital offering from Thailand.

Chinese hospitality company Huazhu Group is on track to raise around HK$6.06bn ($781.8m) from its secondary offering in Hong Kong, after sending price guidance to investors.

Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, is set to join the nascent sustainability-linked bond market this week after mandating banks for a trade and investors will have another chance to pick up crossover rated debt in a deal from forklift truck maker Kion Group.