Loans and High Yield

The European leveraged finance market is heating up, as long-awaited deals for the buyouts of UK plastics company RPC and German online listings firm Scout24 break cover. The two chunky deals will deliver much needed new money supply after a sluggish start to the year.

De Nederlandsche Bank has become the first central bank to sign the Principles for Responsible Investment, as the next stage in its development of a fuller approach to sustainability, including in its investments.

Chinese online travel agent Ctrip.com International has launched its first offshore deal, for €600m, two years after raising a larger onshore facility.

Hong Kong’s Konew International Group has debuted in the offshore loans market, raising $150m.

Four Chinese sub-investment grade yield issuers, mostly property developers, stormed the offshore bond market on Wednesday, allowing yield-starved investors to pile in with orders.

Telecoms company Cable & Wireless, which operates mostly in the Caribbean, added $300m to its longest dated bond on Wednesday in a deal that received strong backing from US high yield buyers.

Almost everyone in the European corporate bond market admits they were wrongfooted by the storm of demand that has overwhelmed issuers this year. But the weather has changed again, as unexpectedly. From last week to this, the temperature is cooler and new issue premiums are, in most cases, back.

Retailer Sports Direct has offered to buy Debenhams for around £61.4m in cash, though the companies disagree on whether Mike Ashley’s firm will be able to deal with the department store’s immediate debt servicing requirements.

Chinese pharmaceuticals company WuXi Biologics has launched a debut offshore loan of $200m through sole lead Standard Chartered.

Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board made its debut in the offshore rupee market on Tuesday, raising Rp21.5bn ($311.7m).

Holders of Inmarsat’s 6.5% 2024 high yield notes are recommended to take profits, as the board of the UK-listed satellite company recommended an LBO offer from a consortium of investors. Barclays, Bank of America, and UBS are arranging a $3.625bn term loan and a $600m-equivalent multicurrency revolver to fund the deal.

Last week’s tap of a KWG Group Holdings dollar bond triggered a debate between bankers about what makes for good market practice. The issuer may be an established and reputable one, but the tap was priced with the borrower still in an earnings blackout. If this sort of timing were to take hold, the Asian issuers as a whole will struggle to build a globally diversified investor base.