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Finnvera matched its record dollar syndication size with its longest ever deal in the currency on Thursday, but some bankers away from the trade felt it should have been more conservative.

Ratings are getting complicated, as agencies struggle to reflect regulatory changes to bank capital structures. But sometimes being simple and predictable is best.

Italy auctioned 10 year debt on Thursday at its highest yield this year, despite a rally in periphery eurozone debt a day earlier.

French car rental company Europcar, which last week filed for an IPO, received on Wednesday strong demand for its €475m refinancing offer.

Two European banks — Nordea and Standard Chartered — issued Samurai bonds this week in an attempt to diversify their funding sources.

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) ended up printing a larger than initially intended senior unsecured sukuk on Wednesday without compromising on spread, said bankers on the deal. Bank of Sharjah, meanwhile, is on track to continue the Middle East’s dominance of CEEMEA with a benchmark debut conventional deal.

The seemingly never-ending saga around Greece’s EU status continues to drive macro sentiment, but credit investors have also had sector specific issues to digest.

The Republic of Ukraine issued a $1bn five year USAID-backed deal on Tuesday that was met with delight by holders of the country’s existing debt. The deal and ongoing support from the US is invaluable to the country, they said.

Dell, the US personal computer maker, has launched a repricing of $3.6bn of loans to cut margins and bring documentation into line with more bond-like market standards.

UK defence contractor Cobham has become the latest of 13 international companies to issue a Schuldschein this year, providing welcome activity for a market that has slowed after a record first quarter.

Cinven is supporting its acquisition of Labco with a backstop facility from JP Morgan that will back the transaction until it finalises a long term capital structure.

Sluggish syndicated loan dealflow is proving to be good news for small and mid-cap privately-owned Chinese companies like Golden Eagle Group and Xinyi Solar, which are finding themselves able to enjoy pricing levels usually reserved for better known names. And so great is bank demand for assets that looser structuring and lower amortisation are increasingly possible, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.