Loans and High Yield

President Trump's friendlier tone at the G20 meeting in Osaka last weekend, when he said the US would not immediately raise tariffs on Chinese imports, has given investment grade corporate bond issuers a bullish market this week, and several have taken advantage. High yield is quiet, by contrast.

Tsinghua Tongfang Co has priced a smaller $300m deal, as investors appeared cautious amid an ongoing share sale. Yuzhou Properties and Shandong Guohui Investment Co returned to the market and saw big order books, the latter fueled by lead manager interest.

Bond market participants in Argentina say that more issuers from the country could look to pre-empt election-related uncertainty and take advantage of benign fundraising conditions after Pampa Energía followed in YPF’s footsteps with a 10 year deal on Tuesday.

Pension insurance company Ilmarinen, one of the largest investors in Finland with €47.4bn under management, is welcoming the nascent trend of sustainable loans, as it scans the market for instruments that create benefits for its whole portfolio.

Bond investors will have a chance to give a further indication of their appetite for Argentine risk as Pampa Energía looks to follow in YPF’s steps and continue to reactivate the primary markets from the country.

Finnish stainless steel producer Outokumpu has signed a €400m sustainability-linked term loan, used mostly for refinancing its short term debt, and featuring margin cuts if the company hits targets linked to workplace accidents and carbon emissions. It's a step forward in a leveraged finance market that has so far taken only tentative steps towards sustainability.

European leveraged finance revenue for the first half of the year is down more than 50%, according to figures from Dealogic released on Monday — and is increasingly going to a small handful of banks, in particular JP Morgan.

Żabka Polska, an operator of Polish convenience stores, has launched a syndicated loan to fund a dividend recapitalisation, according to bankers. The transaction is following closely in the footsteps of fellow Polish corporate, Allegro, that closed a Z2bn (€470m) dividend recap in May.

Danish investment firm Kirkbi is teaming up with Blackstone and Canadian pension fund CPPIB to acquire Merlin Entertainments at an enterprise value of £5.9bn.

GlobalCapital has launched its poll to determine the 2019 winners of its Sustainable and Responsible Capital Markets Awards. Market participants are invited to participate.

ESR Cayman has turned to the debt market for a $175m bond tap, just two weeks after delaying its initial public offering in Hong Kong.

The board of BCA Marketplace, a UK secondhand car dealer, announced on Wednesday that it would recommend a £1.9bn offer from TDR Capital to take the company private. The deal marks a coup for Jefferies, which is lead financial adviser to BCA, a role it won following the hire of a UK M&A team from HSBC last year led by Philip Noblet.