Morgan Stanley

Constellium, the Paris-headquartered aluminium producer, launched a €535m-equivalent bond on Friday December 5, to back its plans to buy US drinks can sheet manufacturer Wise.

Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary Citizens Bank scored a hit on its senior debt issuance debut amid strong supply from the US financial sector this week.

Altice made a firm step towards adding to its European telecoms portfolio on Sunday, when Brazilian telco Oi accepted a raised €7.4bn offer from the French company for the Portuguese assets of Portugal Telecom.

Medtronic grabbed the record for the biggest high grade corporate bond issue of 2014 this week, as investors returned from their Thanksgiving breaks keen to put cash to work in one of the busiest weeks of the year.

The African Development Bank has returned to the offshore South African rand bond market after 15 years away and is looking to enter the currency’s onshore market, as its typical forms of funding in the region have dried up.

Ping An Insurance Group has raised HK$36.8bn ($4.75bn) from a private placement of shares, with the tight pricing on the deal leading to the stock being allotted to the highest quality investors.

Banks are working on financings for several bidders looking to acquire units of cement companies Holcim and Lafarge. The two cement companies, which are looking to merge, are spinning off assets in Europe, Asia and South America. Depending on the assets being targeted, bidders are looking for financing between $800m and $6bn.

Whether or not the European Central Bank announces a programme of sovereign quantitative easing at its next meeting on Thursday or — as many analysts predict — in the first quarter of next year, eurozone countries are already taking advantage of the plummeting borrowing costs generated by the expectation of central bank action.

Chinese online travel booking company Tuniu Corp, which counts Ctrip Investment Holdings and Qihoo 360 Technology as some of its shareholders, is eyeing a $100m follow-on offering before the end of the year.

China’s largest nuclear power producer, CGN Power, has priced its IPO at the top of its range to raise HK$24.5bn ($3.2bn), thanks to overwhelming demand from institutional and retail investors. But final allocations have proved a challenge, with some bankers complaining about the lack of transparency.

Sunac China Holdings joined the procession of Chinese property companies that have come to the market since China cut borrowing rates. The company raised $400m from a five non call three year bond on December 2.

After many days in which bankers have wondered why more sellers were not bringing block trades to what are very strong equities markets, today a burst of deals hit the screens.