Morgan Stanley

Commodities group Glencore Xstrata proved there was life in the corporate investment grade market this week, but syndicate bankers are hoping for a more broad-based recovery as corporate America emerges from earnings blackout.

Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali took advantage of a good market tone to offer a deal that combined features of recent success stories: subordinated insurance debt, and Europe's periphery.

National Bank of Greece bucked the typical route taken by peripheral banks with renewed access to the capital markets, starting with a covered bond or short maturity senior unsecured, to mark its return with a five year senior bond that it printed though the level that the Greek sovereign was trading. It's a deal that has market participants both trumpeting the peripheral recovery story and wondering: to what extent yield hunger is distorting decisions?

The stonking performance of advisory business in Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley’s first quarter results cushioned the blow of an industry-wide slump in fixed income trading revenues. Even within fixed income, both institutions survived the downturn better than their peers, with Morgan Stanley actually seeing an improvement, while Goldman saw an 11% decline in FICC revenues to $2.85bn.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/-

Inter-American Development Bank treasurer Søren Elbech signed off with a final benchmark before he moves to Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas at the end of the month, raising $2bn with a July 2017 global bond on Wednesday. Despite the deal being slightly undersubscribed, bankers away from the trade were impressed that the supranational was able to raise so much cash at a near rock-bottom yield.

The market for new equity issuance sprung back to life on Tuesday with the London launch of an IPO for Card Factory, as market confidence grew after some weakness in trading before Easter.

Turkish Finansbank, 77.23% owned by the National Bank of Greece, has picked Citigroup, HSBC, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered Bank to run a series of investor calls with international investors on Thursday. A benchmark 144A/Reg S note may follow.

WH Group delayed, restructured and shrank what would have been a $6bn IPO this week, after revelations about corporate governance gave investors qualms. The situation was undoubtedly made worse, however, by the issuer's decision to use a 29 bookrunner syndicate — a record for a Hong Kong IPO.

Weibo Corp was forced to price its $286m Nasdaq IPO at the bottom of the range on April 16 after it bore the full brunt of investors' waning confidence in the China tech story. But after a strong trading debut which saw the stock rally 17.9%, more of its industry peers are trying their luck in the US.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation printed a $4bn triple-tranche bond on Wednesday night with investors flocking to the 10 year portion, which attracted a $9.4bn final order book.

The National Bank of Greece is set to price its five year senior unsecured bond inside where the Greek government’s recently issued five year sovereign bond is trading, as the exuberance of the peripheral recovery story continues.