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Hong Kong-listed Car was caught in the eye of an onshore storm this week as bond investors retreated after initial excitement over the central bank’s move to boost liquidity. But the borrower found joy elsewhere — from a visit to the dim sum bond market. Noah Sin reports.

As US Treasury 10 year yields hit 3% on Tuesday for the first time since January 2014, any remaining enthusiasm for EM bonds has been tempered, said investors.

Chinese technology equipment company Hauwai dropped a planned dollar tranche on its latest visit to the corporate bond marker and chose to issue its first bond in euros. This did, however, mean the company opted for a five year maturity, rather than the 10 year tenor it had marketed for the dollar bond.

One piece of information all parties focus on for new corporate bonds is the premium the issuer pays. For much of last year and the early part of this, the premium at any given time was broadly applied across all new issues, but investors have forced syndicates to be more precise in what over what individual issuers pay.

Investors gave Car’s first Panda bond in a year the cold shoulder on Monday, forcing the company to shrink its deal. The red-chip borrower suffered as onshore investors retreated following initial excitement over the central bank’s announcement to boost liquidity and braced for the tax collection season.

German car leasing company Sixt Leasing had the benefit of meeting more than 30 investors and seeing another car leasing company print a deal before coming to market on Tuesday. However, based on order book size and pricing, this backdrop didn't help much.

On Monday, Dutch car leasing company LeasePlan added a €500m fixed rate bond to its 2018 issuance tally, but found more limited demand than its previous deals.

With the shock of the latest round of Russian sanctions receding a little, EM investors are already seeking out the opportunities that last week’s volatility created. Even one holder of the sanctioned and problematic Rusal debt said he has increased his exposure to Sberbank.

Swiss seed company Syngenta enjoyed a bumper order book as it printed a $4.75bn bond six months after abandoning its first attempt.

French telecoms company Iliad is becoming a frequent borrower in the corporate bond market. Two deals in six years have been followed by two deals in seven months. The company’s latest deal, a dual tranche offering, was its largest to date, but order books were barely 1.5 times oversubscribed.

A four week wait for a new corporate hybrid deal came to an end this week with $2.3bn of supply. The levels of oversubscription, however, showed that plenty of demand still remains as investors clamour for the enhanced yields on offer compared to senior debt.

A trio of Australian issuers had a mixed response to their corporate bond issuance this week. Sydney Airport was priced with no new issue premium, but compatriot Stockland found itself paying a 20bp premium two days later.