Natixis

A strong reception to a 10 year Eurobond from Tunisia this week — its first conventional bond since the Arab Spring — marks a large step towards Tunisia’s political and economic rehabilitation, said emerging markets bankers.

Republic of Tunisia made its standalone return to the capital markets on Tuesday with its first non-agency guaranteed bond since the Arab Spring.

The senior market was back in flow on Tuesday after a brief hiatus at the start of the week as market participants evaluated the results of the Greek election. A Syriza victory in the election was not enough to dull demand for FIG paper, with both Morgan Stanley and Rabobank drawing large order books for long dated deals.

French lender BPCE sold the second ever Basel III compliant subordinated Samurai deal on Friday, pricing a triple tranche ¥48.3bn ($409.8m) trade. The new format allowed the issuer to diversify its Japanese following, drawing in many investors which do not traditionally participate in senior unsecured transactions.

Five covered bond borrowers issued benchmark deals in the first half of this week, fearing potential volatility from Thursday's European Central Bank announcement on its sovereign quantitative easing programme.

Italian electricity company Enel has priced a €1.46bn 10 year bond, to be issued to the holders of six shorter dated bonds, after 25% of the investors accepted an exchange offer.

A HK$3.1bn ($400m) portion of a HK$4.46bn fundraising by CVC sponsored Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) has hit general syndication, said bankers.

An HK$3.1bn ($400m) portion of an HK$4.46bn fundraising by CVC sponsored Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) has hit general syndication, said bankers.

Enel, the Italian electricity company, has set the minimum spread for its new 10 year benchmark euro bond at 115bp over mid-swaps, which one banker described as a "very investor-friendly" level.

Rating: A2/A/A+

Covered bond issuers from outside the Eurozone launched deals this week denominated in sterling and Australian dollars. But a bigger proportion were from the Eurozone where borrowers launched deals in the single currency in maturities that ranged from four to 20 years. The transaction were priced generously and enjoyed a solid reception, with central banks taking a back seat.

The covered bond market enjoyed its busiest week in the last three years as 16 borrowers launched benchmarks with a nominal value of €13.5bn ($15.70bn) across a range of currencies and tenors. But investors clearly showed a preference for the seven year — of which there were seven deals, accounting for half of this week’s supply.