JP Morgan

Baidu-backed video streaming service iQiyi and Chinese hotel operator GreenTree Hospitality Group are readying a pair of US IPOs for the end of March to raise a combined $1.7bn.

Slovenia printed €1.25bn by way of a triple tranche euro bond tap on Wednesday from a book of €4bn, paying small new issue premiums. Marjan Divjak, director general in Slovenia’s Ministry of Finance, said that the country is “more or less done” in the international bond markets for the year.

Belgium achieved one of its tightest new issue premiums for years with its inaugural green bond, as green-minded investors from across Europe — and at central banks — piled into the deal on Monday.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development set a new pricing bar for 2018 in five year dollars on Wednesday as it equalled its largest ever dollar benchmark size. Municipality Finance was also out in the same tenor, with a trade that leads said had a concession of 2bp-3bp.

Europe’s syndicated loans bankers say recent transactions highlight how cut-throat the market is for lenders, as the European Commission gets under way with a study on market practices.

Before 2017, US crowd services provider Equinix had not issued a bond in euros. But it has now visited the European high yield market three times, having completed its latest deal on Wednesday.

Books for the Republic of Slovenia’s triple tranche euro bond tap were in excess of €3.6bn by lunchtime on Wednesday, with final spreads having been set for each clip. The deal is part of a liability management exercise that swaps out short dated dollar debt for longer euro denominated paper.

The State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine printed its local currency bond on Tuesday, but needed to pay an eye-watering 16.5% coupon to do so.

FMS Wertmanagement on Tuesday took advantage of widening swap spreads to equal the tightest spread to mid-swaps on a five year benchmark so far this year — a level that was “very tight” to KfW, said bankers on the trade. Two other borrowers are lining up to try their luck in the tenor — including one that is aiming for an even tighter spread.

Three public sector borrowers hit screens in euros on Tuesday, taking advantage of a hot market to offer zero or limited new issue premiums.

State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine has opened books on a hryvnia Eurobond with an eye-catching 16% area yield.

South Korea’s Hyundai Capital Services was confident of finding support in a busy bond market on Monday, sealing $500m from an opportunistic trade that was launched without a roadshow.