JP Morgan

Greece’s impressive return to the public bond markets this week has set the perfect backdrop for further syndication in 2019, which bankers say could be a 10 year, a maturity it has not tested since its 2014 post-bailout comeback. The big bid for eurozone periphery debt could also see Greek and Italian banks sell covered bonds in the near future, according to market participants. Burhan Khadbai and Bill Thornhill report.

Russian state-owned oil and gas giant Gazprom announced the mandate for a new dollar benchmark bond on Thursday, just days after a well-flagged move by the US Treasury to lift sanctions on Rusal and EN+. Market participants hailed the move as providing a more “constructive” and “encouraging” environment for Russian bonds.

Harley Davidson made heavy weather of strong US bond market conditions on Thursday after a dovish Fed and a month-long rally in spreads appeared to set the dollar market up for a strong run of issuance in February.

State-owned Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom is embarking on a US roadshow with investors keen to take a look, ignoring any threat of possible further sanctions from the country.

Getty Images launched a refinancing of its capital structure on Thursday, the company’s first capital markets outing since the Getty family regained control of it last September. An investment vehicle controlled by conservative activists the Koch brothers was willing to commit $500m of preferred PIK equity last year, but the refi of the debt stack had to wait for market conditions to improve.

Chinese electric car company Nio made a splash in the US convertible bond market this week, raising $650m from its debut issuance and using a call spread feature to engineer a tasty premium. Jonathan Breen reports.

L-Bank’s first dollar benchmark of the year was in keeping with a trend in the currency so far this year for oversubscribed deals with low concessions, as leads calculated a 1bp new issue premium for the deal.

JP Morgan has shuffled around its EMEA top team as it looks to position itself for a UK M&A splurge.

Are Asian investors ready to embrace duration again? Oil India and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) proved there is clear demand, rolling out a pair of 10 year bonds on Tuesday. SCB also added a five year tranche.

Nio, the Chinese electric car company, has launched bookbuilding for a convertible bond that will be worth as much as $650m, according to a source close to the deal.

Kommunalbanken took advantage of being the sole SSA issuer in dollars on Tuesday as it was more than twice subscribed and tightened pricing on its first dollar benchmark of the year. Concerns over volatility from this week’s US Federal Open Market Committee meeting and non-farm payrolls kept some other issuers on the sidelines, said SSA bankers — although two are braving Wednesday’s market.

Greece’s highly anticipated return to the public bond markets on Tuesday met with a strong reception from investors. With up to €4.5bn more of benchmark bonds to issue in 2019, Greece is expected to return to the markets for a second syndication this year, which bankers say could be in the 10 year part of the curve. Cyprus will look to follow up on Greece’s success after setting out plans to roadshow a euro transaction in February.