Pre-migration untagged articles

French borrowers continue their strong showing in the loan market, with Sanofi-Aventis, the double-A pharmaceutical groups, pushing ahead with a self-arranged five year refinancing facility of about Eu8bn. But the market is tougher for Spanish companies. Year-to-date loan volumes from the country are the lowest since 2004 and a third down from the same period last year, Dealogic said on Wednesday. Read more on Friday.

Asset manager Jupiter priced a £253m IPO in the bottom half of the range on Wednesday despite equity markets climbing to a one month high. But commentators remain sceptical about equity markets with ‘all warning signs flashing red’, according to Saxo Bank, due to sovereign debt market concerns. Do bankers and investors share Saxo’s bearish view? Read EuroWeek on Friday.

Public sector bond issuance has almost evaporated as the sovereign crisis took yet another turn for the worse this week. Greece’s downgrade to junk status and renewed worries about Spain have driven spreads higher as volatility and lack of liquidity continue. Among this mayhem however, one issuer has bitten the bullet and is planning a 10 year deal. Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec will price a Eu500m deal later on Wednesday. To find out how the deal is received and how the rest of the market feels, read EuroWeek on Friday.

Some of the biggest and more unusual French borrowers are giving Europe’s corporate bond market much-needed relief this week, with a stream of euro benchmark size deals — after only one such issue so far this month. RTE EDF Transport, to some a quasi-sovereign name, led the way, followed by Suez Environnement and RCI Banque. Few bankers predict a heavy flow of corporate transactions to follow, but a more consistent effusion is likely over the next couple of weeks. Read EuroWeek on Friday for more on whether the corporate bond market is back on track.

Russian telecom Mobile TeleSystems on Tuesday became a litmus test for emerging market primary issuance when it broke the drought of new deals with a $750m 10 year bond. Its secondary performance success may determine whether the market opens to new EM deals, or sneaks out early for its summer holidays. Read EuroWeek on Friday for market evaluation and what the deal means for the bulging pipeline.

Despite European banks rushing to sell senior unsecured debt last week, markets have soured again, leaving issuing plans for many banks in tatters. EuroWeek on Friday looks at how much senior debt is to come from European banks, and what is needed to re-open supply.

The Spanish banking sector is moving rapidly towards transformation, as small saving banks merge to make larger entities. With Spanish banks locked out of international capital markets, EuroWeek on Friday asks whether debt market access will be any easier after the restructurings.

Royal Bank of Scotland launched its first benchmark covered bond on Wednesday, a Eu1.25bn three year issue that was the first UK covered bond in almost three months and extended issuance beyond the core French, German and Nordic markets.

A bumper week for covered bonds, which saw total issuance of Eu10.7bn, illustrates just how eager bank treasurers are to issue debt while they can.

The structured MTN market bounced back this week as investors sought structured deals by highly rated issuers to gain a pick up over vanilla transactions without adding credit risk.

Dealers of private EMTNs: Non-syndicated deals for less than $250m excluding financial repackaged SPVs, GSE issuers, self-led deals and issues with a term of less than 365 days.

Münchener Hypothekenbank achieved easily the tightest spread of 12 new issues of Eu500m or more launched in the covered bond market this week when it priced a Eu1.25bn five year Pfandbrief at 8bp over mid-swaps on Monday.