Instituto de Crédito Oficial has sold what some bankers believe may be the first negatively yielding bond from a Spanish issuer.

A shift in a cross currency basis swap rate is behind a spurt of issuance in Hong Kong dollars, said bankers.

A new electronic platform for private placements launched this week has interest from 17 dealers and 18 issuers, according to the initiative’s chief executive Pieter van Dyck.

Italy has sold a 30 year private placement with a coupon linked to the European consumer price index. Market participants are speculating that the deal indicates confidence that inflation may begin to rise.

The low interest rate environment is causing investors to look at longer and longer paper in search of yield. Issuers are seizing the chance for long funding with private placements.

The Province of Quebec has returned to the medium term note market after a long absence, printing in Hong Kong dollars.

Belgium is set to bring a private dabbling in ultra-long debt issuance into the public sphere, as it mandated on Wednesday for a debut 50 year euro benchmark a week after placing its second 100 year medium term note.

Issuers are meeting investors' yield demands by printing long end private placements. One German state sold its longest ever bond on Tuesday and more sub-sovereigns from the country are likely to follow, according to market participants

Agencies could be ready to enter the dim sum MTN market which, in contrast with the silent public market, is in good health.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten stormed into a quiet European market for private placements on Monday with one of its largest euro MTNs in years.

The volume of public sector MTN issuance plunged 39% year on year in 2016’s first quarter, according to a Dealogic report. Europe's yield environment is partly to blame for the drop, say market participants.

Ireland has become the latest issuer to join the exclusive club of century bond issuers, after printing a 100-year note via private placement, the country’s National Treasury Management Agency said on Wednesday.