North America

British American Tobacco set fire to any notion that markets close in August this week with a $20.8bn bond bonanza. It brought a $17.25bn eight tranche deal on Tuesday — the second largest bond transaction of the year in the US — and followed that with a €3.6bn-equivalent four tranche dual currency deal in Europe on Wednesday. Nigel Owen reports.

US electric car firm Tesla was roadshowing a $1.5bn eight year debut bond offering this week. The company can do no wrong in many observers’ eyes, although stripped back documentation is likely to deter at least some investors from the deal.

GlobalCapital speaks to Wojtek Niebrzydowski, vice president, treasury, at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce about the implications for Canadian covered bonds under the country’s newly proposed resolution regime and ask what SEC Reg AB rule revisions mean for SEC-registered covered bond programmes.

European corporate bond markets remain focused on British American Tobacco’s multi-tranche deal expected later this week. However, nine different investment grade issuers printed new issues in the US on Monday, making it the most varied day of 2017 so far.

UBS attracted around $7bn of demand for Monday’s dollar deal after announcing it at the start of the London market.

British American Tobacco is expected to bring the week-long run without any new corporate bond issuance to an end later this week. The UK based tobacco company could issue in dollars, euros and sterling.

Verizon Communications launched its first Australian dollar bond on Thursday. The four tranche deal is the largest corporate bond in the currency this year, raising A$2.2bn ($1.75bn) when it was priced on Friday.

The dollar FIG market took a breather after recording the busiest July on record amid red-hot market conditions.

The dollar market got off to a busy start in August with US telecoms heavyweights Verizon and Comcast taking home a combined $5.5bn on the back of strong demand.

Gilt yields dropped on Thursday after the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-2 to hold the Bank Rate at 0.25% — a higher majority than the 5-3 in favour of holding at its last meeting in June. The more dovish result came after weeks of hawkish noises emanating from the central bank. Meanwhile, the Province of Alberta returned to the sterling market to tap its debut issue from earlier this year.

Discovery Communications has agreed a $9.6bn bridge loan for its $14.6bn cash and stock acquisition of fellow US media corporation, Scripps Networks Interactive, as recent mergers and acquisition deals push US loan volumes up.

Verizon Communications launched its first Australian dollar bond on Thursday. As with its Swiss franc issuance in March, the US firm is aiming to further diversify its lending base.