JP Morgan

France printed a €5bn 2052 benchmark on Tuesday, opting for an aggressive pricing strategy and keeping to a more restrained size than its typical €7bn.

Greece hit the market with its longest bond since the sovereign debt crisis on Tuesday. Its boldness was rewarded by its strongest order book since it returned to capital markets.

Intermediate Capital Group, the UK alternative asset manager rated BBB by Fitch, is in the market for a seven year euro bond on Tuesday, according to two bankers away from the deal.

Czech lottery firm Sazka ventured into the euro high yield market again this week, issuing €300m of seven-year senior unsecured notes. The deal comes after Sazka made a successful debut in mid-November.

Greece and France mandated banks on Monday for new benchmark offerings at the long end of the curve, the former bringing its longest bond since the eurozone debt crisis. The sovereigns are taking advantage of a sharp rally in core and peripheral eurozone sovereign yields, partially engendered by a flight to quality over the coronavirus scare.

Emerging market bond bankers were keeping their pipelines dry on Monday as fears about the new coronavirus stymied new issuance. But mandates still appeared, as Vodafone Ukraine signalled a roadshow for dollar bonds.

Syndicate bankers argue that financial institutions will need to pay a premium to access the bond market in the next couple of weeks, as investors fret about the potential impact of the outbreak of coronavirus in China.

Seen with cynical eyes, the launch of JP Morgan’s Development Finance Institution (DFI) is simply an attempt to expand its emerging markets footprint — already the largest in the business — by capitalising on two trends: the wave of cash fleeing low yields for EM, and the unassailable momentum of the socially responsible investment movement.

JP Morgan has created a Development Finance Institution (DFI), which will see its investment bank originate and distribute assets scored on their developmental impact. But specialists have questioned the bank’s ambitions and raised concerns about how this unit will operate.

Records tumbled in the US bond market this week, as Bank of America and Toronto Dominion set new pricing records.

Southeast European telecoms group United Group, a BC Partners and KKR portfolio company, is marketing an all-bond financing package for its takeover of Bulgaria’s Vivacom, marketing new senior secured bonds and an add-on to its existing 2025 PIK notes.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena wrapped up its second deal of the month on Tuesday, capping off a busy period for Italian deal flow in advance of important regional elections.