Lloyds Bank

Northumbrian Water brought the first sterling corporate bond of the week when it announced a £300m 10 year deal on Thursday. It was almost a year to the day that it priced an identical deal.

ING is planning to bring on a director of leveraged capital markets from Société Générale early next year.

On Thursday, Northumbrian Water brought the first sterling corporate bond of the week when it announced a £300m 10 year deal. It is almost a year to the day that it priced an identical deal.

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting last week created a midweek pause in sterling issuance. However, once the meeting passed, Land Securities reopened the market with a £1bn pair of long dated tranches last Friday.

UK housebuilder Miller Homes this week brought its first high yield deal, coming at a time when spreads on sterling bonds with speculative grade ratings have tightened more than 100bp so far this year.

Order books for the dual tranche high yield bond deal from German pharmaceutical company, Stada, closed at noon on Thursday. Such was the demand for the secured tranche that the deal was was increased by €250m.

Lloyds Bank issued its first Australian dollar bond through its senior holding company on Wednesday. As the Kangaroo market shows itself receptive to loss-absorbing products, bankers expect more financial institutions to diversify down under.

Lloyds Bank debuted its first ever Australian dollar bond through its senior holding company on Wednesday. As growing numbers of foreign lenders are drawn to the Australian currency — a consequence of the high rates relative to other markets and a buoyant economy — there is a growing incentive for international borrowers to place bonds down under.

As the European Central Bank meeting suspended euro issuance on Thursday, British Land took the opportunity to grab UK investors’ attention with its first senior bond for 11 years. The £300m 12 year deal followed Tuesday’s £250m seven year transaction from Total, which had an order book of around £600m.

Telefónica printed the largest single tranche of the day on Tuesday, with a €1.25bn deal with a January 2028 maturity. Despite competing with three other corporate bond deals in the euro market, the deal built a €3bn order book and was printed with a single digit new issue premium.

As expected, no euro issuers were tempted to compete with the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday, however British Land took the opportunity to bring its first senior bond since 2006.

Senior preferred debt has never been cheaper for banks — and it has regulatory benefits as well. While funding teams rush to meet bail-in targets, there's a value in keeping the old asset class alive.