Morgan Stanley

SNCF Réseau took advantage of a move in swap spreads and a favourable euro/dollar basis swap to sell its third dollar benchmark on Friday, ahead of what SSA bankers say will be a busy week of supply in the currency. Nordic agencies are among the issuers expected to be come to the dollar market next week.

Telefónica, the Spanish telecoms group with €55bn of debt, came to the euro market on Tuesday to refinance two of its hybrid capital bonds. It launched a tender offer for the pair, which now total €1.3bn, and a hybrid new issue to replace them, tacking on opportunistically a 10 year senior bond issue.

Whether Vodafone’s £3.44bn issue of two and three year mandatorily convertible bonds on Tuesday this week ends up being judged a corporate finance success for the company may take time to discover. But it is already clear it was a great hit with investors — much more so than the first time Vodafone issued the structure in 2016.

Vodafone’s £3.4bn mandatorily convertible bond with share buyback language, sold to huge demand this week, may have created a new financial product. Certainly it will set off a maelstrom of analysis and pitching to clients, as banks seek other companies willing to try this daring structure. Jon Hay and Aidan Gregory report.

The root of arbitrage is the same thing being priced differently in two markets. As markets have got bigger and more sophisticated, arbitrage has become harder to find.

Two Turkish borrowers hit the market on Thursday, following in the wake of a Koç Holding trade earlier in the week and making it Turkey’s busiest week for deals in almost three years.

Dollar SSA issuance is expected to pick up next week, thanks to a change in the euro/dollar basis swap that is making issuance in the currency more attractive for euro funders. There was still a smattering of dollar trades this week, including a Sofr-linked floater that broke new ground for the format.

Shares in Funding Circle Holdings, the UK peer-to-peer lending platform, closed up on Thursday despite the company reporting a widening loss in 2018 because of the costs of its £440m IPO on the London Stock Exchange in September.

The European Central Bank struck a decidedly dovish tone at its meeting on Thursday, meaning there were no nasty surprises for SSAs planning bond issues in the coming days. A French agency is on screens for a deal in dollars this Friday, while euro and dollar benchmarks are slated for next week.

Two Turkish borrowers hit the market on Thursday, one returning to the market after a six year hiatus. Coming in the wake of a Koc Holding deal this week, the three deals make this Turkey’s busiest week for deals in almost three years.

Singapore-based internet company Sea has raised $1.35bn after boosting the size of a follow-on offering of American Depository Shares (ADS).

Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, may be facing what could be one of the biggest disruptions in its history, in the shape of Brexit, but its approach to the bond market on Tuesday was smooth. Having roadshowed last week, it glided in on the wave of credit demand and landed this year’s fourth corporate 15 year issue in euros.