MUFG

As is becoming traditional in the European corporate bond market, car finance issuers sold the first new issues of the year. The fact the market had to wait just one day was a positive, considering that the backdrop was largely unchanged from the end of 2018, when the market had been difficult to access. However, there were some warning signs other issuers will do well to heed.

Berkshire Hathaway was one of five issuers to brave choppy conditions on Thursday and open the dollar market with the first trades of 2019.

The US’s Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has picked two banks to provide the debt portion of its $74bn acquisition of biotech firm Celgene, in one of the biggest pharmaceuticals mergers in recent years.

The European corporate bond market had to wait just one day for the first new issue of 2019. Some participants had expected volatility in the global financial markets to result in a blank first week for corporates, but finance subsidiaries of Renault and Toyota opted to start their financing for the year on Thursday.

MUFG went to the buy-side to hire a new head of institutional investor sales for the US.

It has only been four years, but the European bond markets have become attached to the kindly hand of Mother ECB. Quantitative easing has been like an electric motor on the market’s bicycle — in 2019, it will have to go back to doing all the pedalling itself. Can the market do it without falling off, when the road ahead is so bumpy?

Housing Development Finance Corp is taking the Samurai loan route for its second syndicated financing of the year.

Issuer rating: A2/A

At least three high-grade borrowers in the US bond market stood down on Thursday as supply windows snapped shut and scotched hopes of a final flurry of supply before year end.

German business software company SAP used its rarity value when it printed a €1.5bn triple tranche deal in March. However, that strategy may no longer be possible, after it sold the largest ever corporate bond priced in December to help fund its recently announced €8bn cash acquisition of experience management software provider Qualtrics.

Policy lender China Development Bank printed a dual-currency, three-tranche transaction on Tuesday, raising $2.4bn-equivalent. While it paid just a couple of basis points of new issue premium for the dollar bonds amid a short-lived market rally, demand for the euro portion exceeded expectations.

Four borrowers piled into the dollar bond market on Thursday, adding to one of the busiest weeks of the year despite tough market conditions. UK telecoms company BT led the charge with a $1.35bn two-part deal.