Morgan Stanley

The prospect of a blockbuster bond deal from US pharmaceutical group AbbVie was welcomed by dollar bond investors this week, after corporate issuance tumbled to its lowest monthly tally this year.

AbbVie’s $63bn cash-and-shares bid for Allergan, a rival drug company, will add fuel to the pharmaceutical sector's M&A bonfire, with more jumbo deals expected before the year ends. A trip to the bond market for funds, including a large euro issue, is also likely, write Mike Turner and Alex Radford.

The auction to determine the credit default swap payouts over the safeguard proceedings of Rallye was held on Thursday, and gave protection buyers an 87.5% payout. The supermarket holding company’s bonds had slid roughly five points in the week before, to trade at around 15 ahead of the auction, but settlement interest was all on one side, pushing the final price to 12.5.

TCS Group Holding, the Russian financial services company owned by founder Oleg Tinkoff, has completed a $300m primary capital raise by selling Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange, gathering a strong following from investors for the deal.

Chinese online lender Qudian benefitted from active engagement with equity-linked investors to explain its business and growth potential to raise $300m from a popular convertible bond.

Investors embraced the duration offered by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone this week, snapping up its $750m trade and pushing the order book to a hefty peak of $4.5bn.

Budweiser Brewing Company Apac will wrap up investor education and launch its much anticipated $5bn to $7bn listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next week.

The loan desks at Morgan Stanley and MUFG are big winners in AbbVie’s around $63bn purchase of Botox maker Allergan, with the banks picked to provide more than half of the purchase price in underwritten debt.

New York-listed Qudian is seeking $250m from a convertible bond, with the company entering into capped call transactions with investment banks — an increasingly popular tool being used by issuers recently.

Impro Precision Industries has raised HK$999.9m ($127.94m) from its float on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, pricing the offering near the middle of initial guidance.

Europe's investment grade corporate bond market began the week with a hefty pack of new bond issues, as issuers were spurred on to bring deals by last week's rally and the favourable performance of past prints.

Nasdaq-listed 360 Finance has kicked off an up to $122.5m follow-on offering of new and existing American Depository Shares (ADS).