JP Morgan

Italian banks have been piling into the primary bond market in the first quarter, capitalising on an incredible rally in the sector as investors look for new sources of value.

World Bank mandated banks for a 10 year sterling deal on Wednesday — an extremely rare trade from a non-UK public sector borrower, but in line with the trend of issuers going out longer in the sterling curve.

Siemens, the German machinery group, paid an average yield of 0.12% for €4bn of debt spread over three to 12 year maturities this week, as investors leaped at the chance to snap up highly rated corporate debt.

Nordic banks Länsförsäkringar Bank (LF Bank) and Landsbankinn were able to offer “attractive value” in the preferred senior market this week, amid a general hunt for yield among credit investors.

The European Investment Bank raised €3bn on Tuesday with a five year deal, receiving €14bn of orders for a deal capped at €3bn.

Two sterling public sector bond issues were announced on Tuesday, but aside from timing, the trades had little in common. The UK Debt Management Office printed £2.5bn at 50 years, while the International Finance Corp raised £350m with a seven year.

Société du Grand Paris impressed the SSA market on Tuesday with a series of superlatives. It sold its biggest ever bond with the longest ever maturity for a syndicated green bond in any asset class. The City of Munich hit another landmark with the first social bond from a European city.

Banco BPM tightened pricing by nearly 30bp for its debut non-preferred senior bond on Tuesday, with investors backing Italian credits as a source of value compared with other assets in the euro area.

Siemens, the German machinery group, launched a €4bn and £850m multi-tranche jumbo bond issue on Tuesday, blowing away worries that similar deals from last week had started to saturate the market.

Emirates NBD Bank pulled in demand five times the size of its benchmark dollar bond on Monday, showing little sign of that wider market concerns about the coronavirus outbreak were having any effect on emerging market bonds.

Korea Development Bank raised $1.5bn from the bond market on Monday as investors showed strong support for the Aa2/AA/AA- rated issuer.

India’s Avenue Supermarts has raised Rp40.98bn ($575.2m) after sealing its qualified institutional placement above the floor price.