MUFG

Danone, the French foods group, became the first European corporate bond issuer of 2015 on Wednesday, and attracted exceptionally strong demand for a €550m five year floating rate note and a €750m 10 year fixed rate bond.

Japan's three megabanks launched Indian Oil Corp’s (IOC) C$600m ($541m) loan into general syndication on January 6. As the deal requires banks to commit in Canadian dollars, the leads are focusing primarily on US and Canadian banks.

Four banks have supplied a $1.1bn 365 day loan that helped China Communication Construction Co International (CCCC International) clinch Leighton Holdings’ construction asset John Holland for A$1.15 bn ($954m).

The US market slowed down after the previous week’s blockbuster but a handful of smaller trades were sufficient to take December's haul to a record. Four corporate trades worth $2.8bn pushed issuance to $43bn, making it the busiest December ever.

South Africa’s Standard Bank has signed a $700m three year term loan, while Nigeria headquartered Africa Finance Corporation looks set to close general syndication of its $300m deal by Friday.

A $3.2bn piece of Tata Steel’s $5.6bn multi-trancher has attracted a whopping $1.089bn in commitments during general syndication. The response follows a successful senior phase, which saw eight banks pile in.

Grupo Actividades de Construcción y Servicios (ACS) of Spain is in talks with a group of banks to refinance €2.2bn of debt, and plans to complete the deal in January 2015.

Syndication for the $3.2bn portion of Tata Steel’s $5.6bn borrowing has seen about 13 banks join with nearly $940m in commitments, said a banker. Allocations for the deal are due to be out soon.

Kingboard Laminates Holdings has returned to the market for an HK$3bn ($386.8m) refinancing of a deal from 2010. The company is paying a premium over its last fundraising, which it sealed at the beginning of the year, as it has been a frequent borrower and many banks already have an exposure to it.

Pelabuhan Indonesia II’s $1bn loan that opened into general syndication in October, has attracted commitments worth $1.298bn from 45 banks.

Spanish travel systems company Amadeus IT Holding priced a €400m three year bond on Tuesday. Demand was strong, with the no-grow transaction nearly six times oversubscribed.

South Africa’s FirstRand bank was the latest in a long line of pulled deals from CEEMEA on Thursday when it pulled a five year dollar bond on Thursday after announcing initial price thoughts.