News content

There were no Monday morning blues in the investment grade corporate bond market this week as five issuers offered investors a variety of deals to consider.

The five deals which priced in the euro corporate bond market on Monday offered investors a variety of options, including hybrids and floaters. For duration buyers, French motorway operator Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône was in market with a January 2033 maturity.

On Monday, French laboratory testing company Eurofins Scientific followed last Monday’s €299m equity sale with a €300m hybrid deal paying very little new issue premium, as the firm’s funding keeps pace with its acquisitions.

The trend for corporate issuers in 2017 has been to sell bonds with longer tenors, but in among a five deal issuance spree on Monday was a couple of two year floating rate notes from rare issuers.

On Monday, Whirlpool became the fourth US issuer to use the euro corporate bond market in the last 15 days when it sold a €600m 10 year deal, 12 months after it last visited the market.

The People’s Bank of China governor issues warning on growing debt level, Hong Kong and Shenzhen launch Connect link for gold contracts, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) agree to help Chinese companies list in Singapore.

On Thursday, tobacco company Philip Morris sold a $2bn triple-tranche bond deal. On Friday, it was in Europe selling a €1bn dual-tranche transaction, taking advantage of the demand for longer tenors.

The latest round of central bank meetings are out of the way, corporate issuers are coming out of third quarter reporting blackout, and the corporate bond market remains hot. However, syndicate managers are more hopeful than expectant of supply to match demand.

The Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) completes the first draft of foreign investment law, regulators give BEA Union Investment Management the go-ahead to launch a wholly foreign owned enterprise (WFOE) in Shenzhen, and Renmin University’s vice president claims the renminbi will be fully convertible within five years.

Hong Kong-listed Huarong International Financial Holdings is gearing up for a Rmb2bn ($302.7m) Panda bond private placement, which would mark the financial issuer’s first outing in the asset class.

Euro corporate bond investors see RCI Banque as a frequent borrower, pricing new issues multiple times a year, but it remains a rare name for sterling investors. Last Friday it sold its first bond in the currency for more than three years.

Housing & Care 21, a provider of housing and care services for elderly people in the UK, made a successful corporate bond debut on Wednesday when it sold a £250m 30 year deal that grew its sector’s presence in the sterling market.