Nomura

Nomura has announced changes to its senior management team, appointing Steven Ashley and Kentaro Okuda to jointly head its wholesale banking business.

The World Bank on Tuesday mandated for a dollar benchmark, as action in the market heated up in anticipation of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting on March 15-16.

Solera Holdings, the Texan car and property insurance claims processor, priced its $3.9bn acquisition debt package in line with revised guidance, after reshaping the debt structure in response to weak investor demand.

Solera Holdings’ $3.9bn debt acquisition package has been reduced, following insufficient demand for the $2bn-equivalent bond’s euro tranche.

Following a busy period in which KfW and Nordic Investment Bank priced deals, African Development Bank (AfDB) was the sole issuer to hit the market this week for a benchmark deal in dollars.

The African Development Bank was unable to tighten pricing from guidance on its first benchmark of the year on Wednesday, which bankers away from the deal put down to a difficult market backdrop.

All eyes in the European leveraged finance market are focused on Solera’s $3.9bn debt package, the only deal in play.

The hidden depth of demand in Europe’s corporate bond market was made amply clear on Monday, when Vodafone trounced market expectations that it would issue a €3bn bond — itself a large and bullish transaction — by raising €6bn.

The African Development Bank is set to bring its first benchmark of 2016 in what is proving to be a quiet week for dollar deals.

National Australia Bank found itself taking on the might of London mayor Boris Johnson alone on Monday morning, launching a short sterling senior deal as other borrowers shied away from a nervous FIG market.

Insurance claims processor Solera Holdings has just three more days of roadshowing to persuade investors to get involved in its $4bn bond and leveraged loan financing, with the jury out on whether a strong week of meetings in the US can trump the torrid time the company had when courting investors in Europe, write Max Bower and Victor Jimenez.

As Solera Holdings began on Tuesday in New York the last leg of its $2bn bond roadshow, investors in the US voiced their surprise at how negative some of its European counterparts remain about the success of the deal.