Loans and High Yield

The European high yield market on Monday fired its opening shot of 2017 with a deal from TalkTalk. The UK telecoms provider is seeking £300m of five year non-call two senior unsecured notes.

Four corporates from Greater China announced their respective plans to sell bonds on Monday, setting the stage for a potentially busy week of primary issuance in Asia.

Chinese real estate related e-commerce firm Fang Holdings is accessing loan market liquidity to refinance debt, mandating one Taiwanese lender to helm a $120m fundraising.

A strong start to the year for leveraged buyout deals has helped stoke banker confidence that 2017 could be another solid year for event-driven loans following healthy activity in 2016, even as refinancing business bottomed out.

French medicine manufacturer Unither Pharmaceuticals is set to kick off the primary market in European leveraged finance for 2017, setting a bank meeting for Tuesday in Paris for €260m of loans.

Despite having bagged some of the biggest returns in the capital markets last year, European high yield fund managers are entering 2017 with unease as they survey central bank activity and potential political mishaps.

Bharat PetroResources has become the first Indian issuer to set out plans for a dollar outing this year, with roadshows due to wrap up early next week. With the Chinese New Year holidays expected to keep many mainland issuers at bay, DCM bankers said Indian firms will make up some of the shortfall. Morgan Davis and Addison Gong report.

A jump in the cost of dollar funds at Taiwanese banks is causing concern in the syndications market even as the overall direction of loan pricing remains firmly downward. Bankers in Taipei said the situation could ease by the end of the first quarter but until then, they face the hard choice of settling for lower returns or seeing their loan books stagnate. Shruti Chaturvedi reports.

China Aoyuan Property Group raised $250m in the first bond issuance from Asia ex-Japan this year, with investors flocking to the deal and driving the order book to a 10 times subscription.

Invitations are out for a $1.8bn Asian loan that will refinance a US term loan B for Novelis. The launch comes about a month after the firm mandated 10 lenders to arrange the borrowing.

Rabobank’s capital markets operation in Hong Kong has undergone senior staff changes with the departure of a veteran loans banker and the appointment of a new capital markets head.

The UK’s University Partnerships Programme (UPP) has signed a £105m financing arrangement to back University of London’s construction of new student accommodation in Stratford, East London.