Lloyds Bank

Investors were relieved to hear on Wednesday that Lloyds Bank had no plans to cancel its "irredeemable" preference shares at par, but those invested in the market want to clarify their position under UK law.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority wrote to CEOs on Thursday, asking them to make sure the details of fixed income shares are understood by investors.

BMW sold one of the first two trades in the euro corporate bond market in 2018. It took until April to follow that with a five-tranche offering in the dollar market. It waited less than the week then to make its first visit to the sterling market, but found sterling investors in a similarly stubborn mood to that of euro investors.

Europe’s corporate bond new issue market is distinctly subdued as Easter Week begins. Investors, issuers and banks alike feel the market could do with a gap to digest the very heavy issuance earlier this month. This week brought two liability management deals, one with a new issue.

JD Sports, the UK casualwear company, is set to break into the US market by buying Finish Line for around $558m. The acquisition will be financed in the loan market.

Lloyds has combined its corporate DCM and financial institutions DCM operations in a single division, run by David Carmalt, former head of financial institutions DCM. Guillaume Fleuti, who headed corporate DCM, will run a new combined infrastructure group at the bank.

UK property company Hammerson has signed a new £1.5bn three year revolving credit facility, bringing in a dozen banks for a financing aimed at slashing the funding costs of its acquisition target, Intu.

Spanish utility Iberdrola had significant success with its debut green hybrid bond in November when it received €3.2bn of orders. However, its second such bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts when it was issued this week.

Lloyds Bank issued its third covered bond of the year on Tuesday and its second in sterling, paying a fraction of the premium seen in the senior unsecured market, despite the large deal size.

UK property company Hammerson has signed a new £1.5bn three year revolving credit facility, bringing in a dozen banks for a financing aimed at slashing the funding costs of its acquisition target, Intu.

Two new SRI corporate bonds were priced on Monday, but with very different results. Iberdrola’s green hybrid bond failed to tighten from initial price thoughts, while Danone’s debut social bond had to pay just 2bp of premium.

It was no surprise to many market participants that Friday saw no new issuance in the corporate bond market after the busiest week of 2018. The conundrum to be solved now though is how the jumbo issuance will affect conditions in potentially the final full week before Easter.