NatWest Markets

The senior FIG market’s new year surge accelerated on Thursday, with another five new issues announced in the wake of Wednesday’s successful prints. Attractive new issue premiums have kept demand high for senior unsecured prints, according to syndicate managers.

Wuxi Pharma to shelve general — Greenland signs dual currency loan — Jet raises $150m — Country Garden clubs for Hk$4.5bn

Paragon Community Housing Group, a UK housing association, has obtained a credit rating from Moody’s in preparation for a £175m debut bond issue.

State Grid Corp of China, a government-owned utility, has mandated banks for a possible debut euro bond to be issued through its European subsidiary, State Grid Europe Development.

Holders of subordinated debt issued from nationalised lenders NRAM (Northern Rock Asset Management, the nationalised 'bad bank' remains of Northern Rock plc) and Bradford & Bingley tendered the majority of more than £210m in outstanding bonds for as much as 206% of the outstanding principal amount.

Richard Tynan, a managing director on syndicate at RBS, has left the bank after three years at the firm. He had been head of syndicate EMEA until September last year.

Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland were quick to react to the results of the Bank of England’s stress tests on Tuesday, with RBS announcing plans to sell £2bn to boost its capital ratio — despite passing the tests — and Lloyds revealing its intention to call several series of enhanced capital notes (ECNs) that the BoE’s Prudential Regulatory Authority did not count as contributing towards the bank’s common equity tier one ratio.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority released the results of its latest round of stress tests this week, revealing that of the eight largest UK banks and building societies only the Co-operative Bank had ran afoul of its adverse scenario. Bankers and analysts have taken the results as a sign that the UK’s financial system is robust, though some have warned that future stress tests may become trickier to navigate.

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.

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.

Gunvor International and Gunvor SA, subsidiaries of Gunvor Group, have signed a $1bn revolving credit facility with a syndicate of 25 banks, down from 38 on its $1.5bn loan a year ago.

Lower tier two debt is set to outperform in 2015, especially those of periphery banks, as investors begin to get selective on more deeply subordinated debt next year, according to Royal Bank of Scotland analysts.