Mizuho

New issue concessions have tumbled in the high grade corporate bond market today. French industrial gases company Air Liquide has rewritten this week's rules by pricing a bond through its own curve on Thursday.

A trio of UK companies drew down on their revolving credit facilities this week, as firms in the country build up their cash piles despite an unprecedented financial support package from the government.

Corporate borrowers are pumping out new bonds this week and on Thursday it was the turn of some of those worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, as investors have felt emboldened enough to look further down the credit curve each day this week. Aeroports de Paris is on screens, as investors credited central bank intervention with bolstering the market.

Kuwait's Equate Petrochemical stuck its head above the parapet this week, holding investor calls for a triple-tranche bond issue.

Confectionery company Néstle, soft drink maker Coca-Cola European Partners and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi piled into Europe's bond market with new issues on Tuesday, suggesting that borrowers are increasingly eager and quick to react when the market shows any signs of stabilising.

China Construction Bank Corp has raised Rmb1bn from an offshore renminbi (CNH) bond that was sold through its Astana arm. The branch only started operating six months ago, after it was set up to strengthen ties between China and Kazakhstan, a country part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

JP Morgan appoints syndicate head for private markets — RBC loses M&A banker — Mizuho names sustainability head

China Cinda (HK) Holdings Co priced a $2bn four-tranche transaction on Wednesday, paying a premium to reach its size target as the fast-spreading novel coronavirus, or Covid-19, continued to rattle global markets.

Mark Wheatcroft has been appointed Mizuho's head of sustainability for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, a newly created post. His previous role as head of primary debt markets has been taken over by Guy Reid.

India’s Tata Steel and Birla Carbon have decided not to syndicate their chunky loans, amid reluctance from the bookrunners to sell down their positions in a slowing market for deals.

Transition bonds, one of the hottest talking points of the past year in the green bond market, made a decisive step forward this week when Cadent Gas, the UK’s largest gas distributor, issued a €500m deal that attracted large orders from environmentally concerned investors, even though some green bond funds shunned it. Jon Hay reports.

Cadent Gas launched what by some counts is only the second transition bond on Wednesday and achieved a stellar reception in the market. The €500m no-grow bond was priced without a new issue concession and tightened sharply on the break, according to a banker on the deal.