JP Morgan

Profit taking has taken a toll on the periphery this week, but even as Italy’s government bonds continued to take a beating on Wednesday and the market for subordinated FIG debt softened, Italian insurer Poste Vita took to the market with a tier two capital transaction at a level that showed investors are still receptive to new deals.

Brakes Group, the UK food supplier owned by private equity firm Bain Capital, priced €150m of new bonds and a £257m tap on Wednesday, as it finalised the shift in its debt structure from loans to bonds.

Leveraged loans bankers have welcomed a €7.5bn loan to finance DE Master Blenders’ merger with the coffee business of Mondelez International. But big deals alone don’t make the market, and lenders are growing increasingly concerned about the lack of deal flow among mid-market borrowers.

Chinese after-school tutoring services provider TAL Education raised $200m on May 15, pricing a 2019 convertible bond in the middle of guidance after finding good interest from investors.

Country Garden Holdings Co made a long awaited return to the bond market on May 15. It was the first issuer from the Chinese property sector since April 29, but while it priced a successful deal, bankers said questions remained over the health of Chinese property names.

Several companies including GDF Suez delayed plans to issue corporate bonds in Europe on Wednesday, as markets looked ugly at the open. There was a flurry of MTN and niche currency issuance this week, especially from BMW, but the only mainstream corporate bond issue on Wednesday was from Prologis, the US warehouse Reit.

Several companies delayed plans to issue corporate bonds in Europe today, as markets looked ugly at the open. There has been a flurry of MTN and niche currency issuance this week, but the only mainstream corporate bond issue today was from Prologis, the US warehouse Reit.

Profit taking has taken a toll on the periphery this week, but even as Italy’s government bonds continued to take a beating on Wednesday and the market for subordinated FIG debt softened, Italian insurer Poste Vita took to the market with a tier two capital transaction at a level that showed investors are still receptive to new deals.

Agricultural products supplier Olam International has secured a 364 day bridge loan worth $2.22bn, managing to increase it from the $1.5bn target it had approached lenders with. Despite the low starting all-in pricing in the sub 100bp over dollar Libor area, bankers were not put off thanks to the company being the acquisition target of Temasek Holdings.

Carlsberg Breweries returned to the euro bond market after an 18 month gap today with a successful €1bn 10 year bond, though it had to contend with a market that has lost a little of its rude bullishness in the past week.

Equities and credit indices had a so-so day today, but that did not stop three companies punching out deals in the European market, using three of the formats that have recently been popular.

Swedish steelmaker Ovako's €300m senior secured bond traded up today, after it was priced at par late last week.