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Two issuers made opportunistic moves in sterling on Tuesday with one offering investors a rare 2020 and the other a tap.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has signed its $77m loan, the first international syndicated loan this year for a borrower in Nigeria, which has been struggling with a low oil price and political instability.

There were strong signs on Thursday that investors are betting heavily on further monetary policy easing by the European Central Bank, as Italy sold debt at a record low yield.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Belgian-Brazilian brewer, mandated a group of 21 banks to provide its $75bn loan facility, but there was no coordinator as AB InBev took an active role in arranging the transaction.

Tullett Prebon’s takeover of ICAP’s voice broking business is rich with symbolism and portent.

Citigroup has promoted Paul Simpkin to be chairman of EMEA leveraged finance and Richard Basham to be head of EMEA leveraged finance and loans.

Perform Group, the UK digital sports media firm, sold £175m of secured notes on Wednesday, after cutting down the offering from £200m as investors proved cautious.

As Ecobank syndicates one of the first Nigerian loans of the year, new lenders are joining the syndicate from Africa and, more surprisingly, the Middle East.

India issues RFP for Concor sale — Bank of Jinzhou readies IPO — China Energy and UNV to pre-market

Banco Popular Español became the first peripheral bank to launch senior debt in just under two months on Thursday, paying around 20bp of new issue concession to tap its outstanding February 2020 bonds.

After a four month ban, IPOs are back on the table in China. But it appears some lessons have been learnt, with the rules being tweaked to prevent a repeat of this summer’s sell-off. The changes will ensure a less volatile secondary market and sets the stage for the country to adopt a market-driven regime for A-share listings next year, writes John Loh.

ICBC New York returned to the dollar bond market one year after its debut with a $1bn dual-tranche offering on November 5. While the deal was popular with Asian accounts, interest from the US was lukewarm because of the issuer’s aggressive pricing tactic.