NatWest Markets

Europe’s high grade corporations are lining up bond issues in euro and sterling for this week, which could be the last before the market slows down for a summer break. Meanwhile, analysts and investors agree that there is considerable room for borrowers to sharply ramp up primary market activity in the next session.

NatWest Markets has created a new climate and environmental, social and governance (ESG) capital markets team, which will be led by Caroline Haas.

UniCredit plans to make labelled financing a regular part of its funding across the group, following the launch of its debut labelled bond this week. Its first deal proved popular as it stacked up more than €3.25bn of demand.

UniCredit was able to stack up more than €3.25bn of demand behind its inaugural green bond on Monday, landing the note 10bp through its conventional curve.

Allied Irish Banks has bought around €4.2bn of performing corporate and commercial loans from Ulster Bank, marking a major step in the NatWest-owned Ulster Bank’s withdrawal from the Republic of Ireland.

The dollar corporate bond market continued to show its resilience this week, but concerns are growing over a lack of supply in the run-up to the July 4 holiday weekend.

A smattering of smaller euro issuers made the most of an attractive window this week, as they looked to use the stable conditions to take “some risk off the table” ahead of the summer break.

Rating: A3/—/A

European companies piled into the bond market on Wednesday with a variety of deals that favoured duration, as buoyant sentiment returned after being sapped by the US Federal Reserve last week.

NatWest jumped into a dollar market in search of additional tier one (AT1) paper on Wednesday morning, as investors shrugged off short term volatility to open their "deep pockets".

James Marriott is joining Wells Fargo in a senior debt capital markets role this autumn after he resigned from NatWest Markets, where he was head of DCM and advisory for financial institutions and sovereigns, supranationals and agencies.

Vattenfall, the Swedish electricity company, powered through its euro hybrid capital funding levels with a debut sterling green hybrid this week, as the sterling market continues to provide ample support for borrowers.