Mizuho

Corporate bond issuance in euros was busy again on Tuesday, with four deals, but they were moderately sized, so the total was nothing like Monday's haul of €6bn and £1.25bn.

One of the world’s largest companies made its debut in the yen bond market last week, as Berkshire Hathaway placed ¥430bn ($4bn) of multi-tranche debt. With the Japanese government yield curve offering sub-zero returns for anything under 15 years, the six tranche deal offered investors a chance to earn a yield pick-up, according to bankers away from the deal.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) hit screens on Monday morning with initial price thoughts for a new 10 year green Kangaroo bond. The trade follows a busy week for SSA Kangaroo issuance at the long end of the curve, driven by Japanese demand according to one banker.

Two new corporate bond issues hit the market on Friday, wrapping up the busiest week of the year, in which nearly €22bn of new notes have been printed. Despite the frantic activity, investors have been willing to lend, though companies may have had to pay larger new issue premiums.

Six Greater China borrowers, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Macau) and an unrated property developer, have wooed bond investors to their new dollar deals.

Bank of Ireland was unable to complete the sale of a tier two transaction this week, after the UK Parliament descended in chaos. Bond buyers have by and large taken a pragmatic approach during Brexit negotiations, but market participants said that on this occasion the Irish issuer had “misjudged” how nervous investors were, writes David Freitas.

The frenzy of investment grade corporate bond issuance in Europe intensified on Thursday, when eight companies came to market, issuing a total of €6.6bn of paper in euros. That brought the total for the first four days of this week to over €20bn. Despite the heavy supply, issuers have found sufficient demand to support their notes.

FIG bond bankers are worried, as one put it, that “the steam is coming out of the Kangaroo market” after Thursday’s additional tier 1 (AT1) deal from Société Générale failed to reach the heights of deals from UBS and BNP Paribas earlier in the summer.

CCB Leasing added $300m to its 3.5% 2024 bonds on Wednesday, taking the total size of the transaction to $800m.

French bank BPCE has mandated lead managers for a potential five year senior preferred deal in the Australian dollar market — its first this year in the currency.

Mizuho Securities has become the first Japanese clearing member to access LCH SA’s euro debt clearing services as a member of RepoClear.

Mizuho issued five year and 10 year senior bonds this week, fixing spreads for the two instruments at 65bp and 67bp, respectively.