Morgan Stanley

The dollar market for SSAs is set to spark into life on Thursday, with one issuer lining up a debut deal in the currency and another attempting to print at the lowest spread to mid-swaps this year.

Phoenix Group Holdings, the UK life insurer and asset manager, will carry out a £735m rights issue to partly finance its takeover of Abbey Life, which it announced on Wednesday morning, causing its share price to rise by 3.6%.

CK Hutchison Holdings is seeking fresh funds to refinance debt, and is eyeing a dual-tranche dollar bond with five and 10 year tenors.

China National BlueStar navigated a crowded primary market on Monday, netting $1.1bn from a dual trancher on the back of an impressive $4bn order book.

Singapore Telecommunications raised $500m on Monday, a day when credit markets in Asia slumped. Nevertheless, the investment grade issuer managed to get away with offering no new issue premium on its bonds.

China Minsheng Hong Kong International Leasing is planning to raise at least $300m from its latest loan, more than the initial $200m, after receiving a good response during general syndication.

Three Chinese issuers went out to woo investors on Monday to get ahead of a potential boom in bond supply after announcements from the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan last week.

China Merchants Securities Co has kicked off bookbuilding for a HK$11.4bn ($1.5bn) IPO, over half of which has been propped up with cornerstone investors. Meanwhile, peer-to-peer lender Lufax has hired a quartet to lead its $5bn float.

The blaze of equity block trades on Thursday night was well received, with important deals completed for CaixaBank and in shares of Veolia Environnement and Scout24.

CaixaBank, the Barcelona-based retail bank, has launched a €1.3bn accelerated bookbuild this evening to sell a 9.9% stake in itself, as part of its move to take over Banco BPI of Portugal. The deal is one of four block trades in the European market this evening.

French non-performing loan servicing firm MCS Groupe printed its €200m five year floating rate note at 5.75% over Euribor on Wednesday. The deal received a boost in trading on Thursday as the market welcomed the Fed’s decision to hold interest rates.

US car rental provider Avis this week followed rival Hertz to the euro market and sold a €300m bond, increasing the deal from its initially marketed size.