JP Morgan

High hopes for a bumper corporate finance year in Saudi Arabia have been dashed by the pulled Aramco IPO, the blockade of Qatar and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, writes David Rothnie.

The market volatility in the week of the US Thanksgiving holiday was a microcosm of where the corporate bond market has evolved to through 2018. Market volatility and lack of buying interest pushed spreads wider again, but that widening meant investors could not resist new issues for long.

The African Development Bank and Nederlandse Waterschapsbank were able to sell a pair of oversubscribed no-grow $500m socially responsible deals on Tuesday, despite tougher market conditions as the end of the year approaches.

Private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven are financing their purchase of a further 28.3% stake in Stada Arzneimittel, the German pharmaceutical group, in the euro leveraged finance markets this week, and are having to contend with investors who are in a risk-averse mood.

The African Development Bank issued the first green bond linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (Sofr) on Tuesday. The European Investment Bank will look to extend the Sofr floating rate note curve on Wednesday with an October 2021 issue that will use a different coupon formula to the previous Sofr trades.

US medical technology company Stryker had to wait longer than it planned for its debut in the European corporate bond market, but when the chance to launch the deal came on Tuesday, it achieved the hat-trick it was aiming for with an extra tranche added for good measure.

Belgian chemicals manufacturer Solvay sold its first public corporate bonds for three years on Tuesday when it reopened the European hybrid bond market, which has not seen a new issue since September. Despite the recent dearth of issuance, the market is still set to record an increase of more than 57% on 2017’s total volume.

Taiwan Cement Corp printed a $400m convertible bond linked to the Taiwanese dollar on Monday, marking its first equity-linked issue in over a decade.

The African Development Bank mandated banks on Monday for the first green bond linked to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, Sofr.

Guarantor: Kingdom of Spain

Instituto de Crédito Oficial (Ico) is eyeing up its first ever green bond in 2019 following a series of social bonds.

Takeda Pharmaceutical, the Japanese firm buying UK rival Shire, defied tough market conditions to press ahead with a $5.5bn trade to help fund its $62.5bn acquisition ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.