JP Morgan

Norwegian oil exploration and production company Aker BP is positioning itself as an investment grade issuer with a new dual tranche dollar mandate, with a call targeting bond buyers with IG mandates, and an unsecured issue structure. The company received its second IG rating last November.

Asian bond issuers went full speed ahead with their fundraising plans on Monday, launching new deals ahead of Chinese New Year holidays at the end of the month.

JP Morgan Securities (China) has received the securities and futures business permit from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which will allow it to begin operations in the Mainland.

A €200m bond add-on for UK-based car maker Jaguar Land Rover, announced on Tuesday, follows €800m of unsecured notes issued in mid-November. Jaguar was drawn to a balmy post-election market that rewarded it with favourable pricing and encouraged it to increase the deal.

Ping An Group subsidiary OneConnect Financial Technology has raised $312m from a listing of American Depository Shares (ADS) after trimming and then increasing its IPO.

European banks are about as close as they can be to having clarity on their minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). Now it’s up to them to figure out what impact the new bond standard will have on their funding plans, annual profits and business models. Tyler Davies reports

European banks no longer really have to think about building up layers of additional tier one debt. All of the focus has shifted to managing and refreshing this capital layer, and taking full advantage of a ferocious hunt for yield. Tyler Davies reports

Bankers predict that financial institutions will be looking to pack as much funding as possible into the first few months of next year, in a bid to avoid the event with biggest potential for volatility — the US presidential election in November.

Investors gobbled up a high yield bond offering by US plastic packaging company Berry on Thursday, encouraging the company to increase the size twice, eventually reaching over €1bn. Berry is the only speculative grade company to issue a major bond this week in Europe, as most issuers stayed away from a market anxious about the UK general election.

Investec has entered the loan market for the third time this year, taking a $450m two year term loan from a range of international lenders.

OneConnect Financial Technology Co, a unit of Chinese conglomerate Ping An Group, reduced the size and price range of its New York Stock Exchange listing on Wednesday, a day before it was to be priced.

French insurance firm Scor made good use of quiet conditions in the FIG market this week, tapping a restricted tier one (RT1) bond — the first ever in dollars — for another $125m.