Loans and High Yield

Once again, Deutsche Bank is at a crossroads. After a tough few years, it is still strong enough to fight back in global investment banking. New CEO Christian Sewing will decide whether it does. He seems rational and determined, but does he have the stomach for the battle?

A group of 23 banks opened syndication for Tata Steel’s $1.86bn dual-currency facility on Monday, but only after the deal went through numerous changes on its way to the market.

Two banks are supplying a $200m loan to back a consortium’s move to take New York-listed Chinese auto rental company eHi Car Services private.

Peking University Founder Group Co, BOC Aviation and Yuexiu Property Co are meeting investors for their upcoming bond plans, while China National Chemical Corp’s Swiss subsidiary Syngenta is also gearing up for a mega deal.

This week, Permira Credit Solutions III (PCS3) signed its seventh investment this year, a credit line for the acquisition of Maxicoffee by Daltys. The direct lending market seems on course to surpass last year’s record numbers, said market sources.

Speculative grade borrowers stayed on the sidelines of the primary market this week. While bankers said the deal pipeline has a healthy list of issuers ready to go in April, investors warned that they might be pickier than in the first quarter.

European leveraged finance investors are expecting lower deal volumes and wider spreads in the primary market after an exceptionally busy and expensive 2017.

Solusi Tunas Pratama, an Indonesian telecommunications company, has launched a $577m-equivalent dual-currency loan denominated in dollars and rupiah into general syndication.

Speculative grade borrowers stayed on the sidelines of the primary market on Tuesday. While bankers said the deal pipeline has a healthy list of issuers ready for this month, investors warned that demand may be choosier than in the first quarter.

Debt bankers in Hong Kong were back after a four-day Easter break on Tuesday to some disappointing issuance numbers from the first quarter of the year. But with a decent pipeline of deals, they are keeping their fingers crossed for a pick-up in activity.

With Moody’s analysts predicting last week that Tesla would need a $2bn capital injection, high yield analysts have pointed to the company’s Gigafactory as a likely source of collateral, as the flagship facility was excluded from the firm’s covenant package in its last deal.

Five London boroughs are allocating a total of £250m of their pension funds' investments to private debt, in a move that could spark interest from other local authorities.