JP Morgan

GlobalCapital’s annual Global Derivatives Awards in London on September 18 will honour the people, companies and deals that shaped derivatives markets over the last year. Among those winners will be Blythe Masters of JP Morgan, winner of the Outstanding Contribution Award. Ahead of the gala evening, Masters granted a rare interview to GlobalCapital’s Beth Shah to talk about her life and extraordinary career.

The US FIG market returned to normality after the deluge of the previous week’s supply subsided.

Europe’s corporate bond market delivered on bankers’ and investors’ hopes this week, as issuers belted out €13.2bn of deals, pushing this week — by a €20m margin — into the top 10 of the market’s busiest weeks ever.

Metropolitan Life hit screens with a trio of senior unsecured deals on Wednesday morning, looking to print in euros, Australian dollars and Swiss francs. Strong appetite for insurance company paper helped assure it of a warm reception for its euro and Aussie deals, with the francs yet to conclude.

Agence Française de Développement this week became the first supranational or agency issuer to raise €1bn with a green new issue in euros at the long end of the curve, while the European Investment Bank priced a tap of a November 2026 Climate Awareness Bond in Ecoop format. That came just a week after it sold the original deal, which is its longest benchmark Climate Awareness Bond in euros.

Delachaux - Co-op Pharmacy - Corialis - Averys - HSE24 - WMF - Cheminova

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank returned to the dollar market on Tuesday and made a 50bp saving at the five year part of its curve. Middle Eastern spreads have come flying in over the past year and bankers said that the bond came at the tightest possible level.

The senior FIG market enjoyed a barnstorming week in euros. A combination of a positive market tone following last week’s European Central Bank meeting and high levels of cash at investment houses allowed issuers to rack up large order books while pricing at competitive levels.

The investment grade market was a story of the haves and have-nots as investors showed signs of fatigue amid a deluge of supply.

Lagardère, the unrated French media group, returned to the bond market on Wednesday with a successful €500m issue that showed how it has repositioned its credit as an investment grade issuer.

Iron Mountain, the US data storage group, priced its first sterling bond for a decade in the middle of price guidance on Thursday.

China's Alibaba Group has thrown open its long awaited $21.13bn New York IPO, with a deal that is likely to be not only the biggest US listing ever but could also break the record for the biggest IPO globally.