Natixis

The European Investment Bank and World Bank kept the strong momentum flowing in the euro public sector bond market on Thursday, hitting the sweet spot with 10 and seven year benchmarks, respectively.

Crédit Agricole Italia marketed a dual-tranche bond with eight year and 25 year maturities. A steeper curve helped the longer tranche offer a higher pickup against the shorter bond, but investors still placed hefty orders on both tenors.

Investors piled into the euro public sector bond market on Wednesday, allowing borrowers to achieve well subscribed order books and minimal new issue concessions for a range of maturities.

Issuers rushed to open the euro covered bond market this week. Trades from ABN Amro, Erste Group and LBBW showed that investors are ready to put cash to work, but higher new issue premiums suggested that issuers were taking a 'conservative' approach at the beginning of the year.

Angolan national oil company Sonangol will soon launch syndication for a loan that could be as large as $1bn, according to bankers, though most expect the African pipeline in the early year to remain muted.

Natixis has made two new hires for its Asia sponsor finance and mergers and acquisitions teams in Hong Kong.

TrailStone Group, the gas and power trader and investor based in London, has closed the year with a €150m revolving credit facility, which complies with the Green Loan Principles.

Bond investors are set to start the new year with some trepidation, due to uncertainty around the US-China trade relationship and rising defaults in the Mainland. While there will be opportunities, not all issuers will have easy access to liquidity as buyers turn selective.

Big European investment banks pivoted towards the Americas during 2019 in an attempt to boost revenues and position themselves for the next downturn, writes David Rothnie. With large M&A across the industry still off the table, banks are finding scale through joint ventures and alliances.

Power company Electricité de France has agreed to buy back almost €1.2bn-equivalent of its hybrid capital bonds, marking the end of a busy period for the company in the debt markets.

Hebei-based steelmaker HBIS Group raised $300m from a bond this week ahead of an April maturity. It hit the market when investor confidence was shaken by recent and upcoming defaults from China.

Groupe BPCE benefited from a bookbuilding process that was shorter than usual on a visit to the Samurai bond market this week, raising about $670m equivalent of preferred and non-preferred senior debt.