Auckland Council is eyeing the European private placement market as it plans to increase its offshore issuance in its next fiscal year, a funding official told GlobalCapital.

Municipality Finance plans to become a frequent issuer of 144A bonds in public and private formats and is set to add the appropriate language to its EMTN programme in May.

Belgium's regions and municipalities are set to have an increased presence in the private placement market this year as several new borrowers are expected to debut.

Supranationals and agencies are taking advantage of Japanese investors eager to kick start their fiscal year, which began on April 1, by printing large Uridashi and medium term notes. SSA bankers are urging borrowers to place as many deals as they can before competition from higher yielding classes of issuer increases.

French regions will sell a spate of private placements in the coming weeks despite a sluggish start to the year, according to medium term note dealers. Bankers expect the borrowers to print larger and longer notes than last year.

A failed attempt by a US hedge fund to force a default event on a pair of outstanding Eksportfinans Samurai bonds is likely to be an isolated incident, with most investors happy with their holdings of the agency and some still even trading the credit, bankers said this week.

German pension funds have joined Japanese investors hunting for long dated paper from sub-sovereigns, according to medium term note dealers. They are finding super long paper from French regions, but supply is limited and German regions are beginning to tap the demand by pushing further out along the curve.

Propertize will look to commercial paper to complete its 2014 funding, GlobalCapital understands. The borrower has sold €750m in the market so far, but will find stronger demand at the beginning of April, according to MTN dealers.

Investors are keen for structured medium term notes from supranationals and agencies, but the deals are hard to source, according to MTN dealers.

Brussels-Capital Region wants to raise €70m in private placements by April 8 but is receiving more inquiries for longer tenors than it wants to print. French regions could look to take advantage of the excess demand and print longer notes, according to medium term note dealers.

Canada is considering selling more euro medium term notes (EMTN) after dipping its toes back into the market for the first time since 1997. But bankers disagree over the level of investor interest the sovereign will find.

There was plenty of demand for long dated notes in sterling this week. While Mexico kept the public market busy, Transport for London took advantage of interest to debut in the private placement market with what bankers believe is the first 50 year sterling private placement since 2010.