NatWest Markets

GlobalCapital announces the results of its Equity Capital Markets Awards for 2015, following our inaugural ECM Awards Dinner, in London on March 16.

UK utility company SSE is in the market for its first private placement since its debut in 2012 and investor appetite for the firm’s paper appears as strong as before.

Barclays plc launched €1.5bn in five year senior debt on Wednesday, as it became the third UK issuer in the last two weeks to take strong investor demand for holding company level funding.

Caisse d'Amortissement de la Dette Sociale found strong demand at the five year part of the dollar curve on Tuesday, as L-Bank delayed a deal in the same currency and tenor.

In another European healthcare M&A deal, three banks have increased their commitments in a loan which veterinary pharmaceuticals company Dechra will use for a US acquisition.

Royal Bank of Scotland returned to the market for its first holding company senior issue in nearly two years, raising €1.5bn in seven year debt as spreads across the asset class continue to perform strongly.

Sappi Papier, the Austrian-South African paper manufacturer, is seeking to issue €350m of secured notes to refinance its 2021 dollar bond, in a European high yield market that has brought forward its post-Easter pipeline of deals.

Two UK funds have acquired a stake in one of the largest onshore wind farms in the country, Clyde Wind Farm. There is a healthy pipeline of utilities M&A according to one investor, which would be a boost for infrastructure loans.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten brought a 10 year dollar benchmark this week that sparked much debate about whether other issuers would be able to follow in the tenor. Although with a flurry of other trades this week, it is clear that other options are available once next week’s US Federal Reserve meeting is held.

There was a double breakthrough in dollars for public sector borrowers on Tuesday, as Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten reopened the 10 year part of the curve for core issuers for the first time in seven months and Sweden priced the tightest three year benchmark since the first week of the year.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) on Thursday joined the surge of blockbuster multi-tranche deals that has hit the euro bond market since mid-February as it raised €3.9bn of bonds across three tranches.

The recovery in Europe’s corporate bond new issue market continued on Wednesday, with three successful issues — one each in sterling, euros and Eurodollars. By far the largest was the return to its home market of Motability Operations, the non-profit organisation which provides cars and other vehicles to disabled people in the UK.