JP Morgan

The third week of July finally saw the summer lull kick in, with SSA issuance volumes at less than half of what was sold last week. But Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten still managed to snatch up a successful tap, and SSA bankers and issuers reckoned the market still bodes well for new issues.

Grim trading in African bonds this year has not stopped DCM and syndicate bankers predicting that African Eurobond volumes will blast past historical records to hit a new high in 2018. With Angola forging ahead this week with a tap that broke a dollar hiatus of more than a month in the CEEMEA market, they look set to be proved right, writes Francesca Young.

Electricity network operator Terna has sold the first investment grade corporate bond from an Italian issuer since the formation of the country’s new government and was rewarded with an order book that was more than 5.5 times subscribed, demonstrating an investor base that is open to Italy risk once more. Nigel Owen reports.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) raised $600m with a green bond on Wednesday, offering no new issue premium to an investor base desperate for environmentally friendly assets.

There is a sense that banks in the Middle East are being encouraged to pledge allegiance in the public bond markets to either Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates or to Qatar, as the diplomatic tensions between the two sides rumble on. But in the MTN market it is becoming clear that no such division exists.

World Bank on Wednesday returned following an eight month absence in dollar benchmark funding to print the tightest spread on a three year dollar deal from an SSA this year.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) is looking for international buyers of its green bonds for the first time as it prepares a roughly $402m new issue.

JP Morgan pocketed $350m on Tuesday from a cash-settled exchangeable bond that was the first of its kind in Asia, drawing huge support from long-only investors. The deal is among a handful globally that not only lets bank issuers raise funds, but also helps with hedging out their corporate derivative exposure. John Loh reports.

After a tough run for issuers, the euro corporate bond market appears to have headed for its summer holiday early this year. The sterling market, however, kept investors busy last week, and the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meeting in August is being closely watched.

HDFC Asset Management is gunning for up to Rp28bn ($408m) from its IPO in India after setting the final price guidance for the offering.

Birla Carbon has closed a $1.2bn multi-tranche loan after attracting six participants during senior syndication, according to a banker close to the situation.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten on Tuesday achieved big size and a decent price with a €750m tap of a 10 year bond whose original issue had underwhelmed — leading one SSA banker to reference Hollywood by calling the reopening the “Shawshank Redemption”.