Loans and High Yield

This week has been one of the most promising for the European bond markets for some time. Even high yield, which was all but shut throughout the first quarter, joined the corporate bond market in showing strong market activity, pricing four deals.

William Hill, the UK bookmaker, will begin a roadshow on Friday for its benchmark sterling bond, indicating an estimated deal size of between £250m and £300m.

Commodities trader Noble Group has wrapped up a $1bn committed unsecured revolver with 25 banks joining the transaction, alongside a $2bn revolving borrowing base facility.

Three banks have seen changes to their loan syndication teams in Asia following departures and internal moves.

Tissue paper maker Youyuan International is tapping the loan market for a $120m 3.5 year facility, marking its return after a gap of two years.

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is to start gauging investor interest this week for what would be the auto firm’s first green bond.

A former director-level leveraged finance banker at Lloyds joined Société Générale this month on a short term contract.

High yield bonds enjoyed a healthy run of issuance on Wednesday as three issuers managed to price deals and further renew the market through the increased flow of double-B deals.

Primary issuance of euro corporate bonds is catching up fast with the €134bn issued in the first half of 2015 .

Chinese tissue paper maker Youyuan International has returned to the loan market after a two year gap and is seeking a $120m 3.5 year facility.

Chinese auto rental company eHi Car Services, which made its debut in the international bond market late last year, has set its sights on a $150m syndicated loan.

Airbus’s defence electronics unit has launched a €425m term loan ‘B’ backing private equity firm KKR’s €1.1bn acquisition of the business.