NatWest Markets

ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank opened books on new senior deals in the sterling bond market, with bankers recognising that the currency is 'working very well' for international names.

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.

The European Investment Bank delivered 2020’s first Sonia bond on Wednesday, adding to a streak of hot deals in sterling. The second Sonia deal is set to follow on Thursday.

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.

KfW broke new ground in the sterling bond market on Monday by bringing its largest ever benchmark in the currency. Kommunalbanken is looking to latch on to the red hot market too after picking banks to lead a new December 2024 trade.

Leeds Building Society opened books on Monday for its second Sonia-linked covered bond. The trade benefited from an ‘unparallelled’ level of demand, reaching almost four times its £600m size.

The European Investment Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank amassed strong demand from investors to kick off their funding programmes for the year on Friday, with the former receiving the biggest ever order book in the sterling supranational and agency bond market, according to the leads.

Nationwide Building Society issued the first sterling covered bond of the year on Friday, without needing to pay any premium over the tight trading levels of its existing bonds.

NatWest Markets is searching for a new chief executive and chief financial officer, after Chris Marks and Richard Place stepped down from those roles.

UK fund Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Fund, which invests in infrastructure debt, has increased its multi-currency revolver for the second time since May, enlarging it from £200m to £280m.

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.

Utmost International, the life assurance group which mandated leads to run investor meetings for a senior bond in mid-November, may have missed the issuance window this year as the primary market slows to a standstill around the UK's general election.