Pre-migration untagged articles

Eurohypo and Caisse de Refinancement de l’Habitat are in the market with benchmark issues this week as covered bond supply remains restricted to conservative names. The German issuer is selling a three year issue and the French a 10 year as borrowers from other jurisdictions remain on the sidelines. Read EuroWeek on Friday (or The Cover today).

Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House has received consent to defer repayment of a third of its $300m syndicated loan. But lenders’ irritation that they were asked for an extension only two weeks before the maturity has not subsided. Many are also worried about GFH being able to sell enough assets to repay the final $100m within six months.

Henkel, the German detergent firm, has matched one of the tightest-priced deals of recent weeks — that of Philips’ — with its newly launched Eu700m five year refinancing, paying a margin of 75bp. The aggressive pricing on the deal, which is being led by BNP Paribas, Citi, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and UniCredit, has established a tight standard for top-tier European corporates seeking refinancings. To find out more about this deal and others this week, read EuroWeek this Friday.

German retail group Metro is on course to price a Eu750m seven year bond on Wednesday, in its first deal since July. But it is the only European corporate borrower this week to have seized upon a slightly improved outlook for the wider markets on Wednesday morning. While a handful of opportunistic borrowers could follow suit by Thursday, syndicate officials warned that many issuers that held off from printing deals in the last week could have missed their chance for at least a month, as they head into blackout period. Read EuroWeek on Friday to find out who still plans to venture to market in the next week.

Central European coal miner New World Resources has pulled a Eu700m bond because weaker credit markets meant it would have had to price it wider than it would have liked. The cancelled issue follows Italian gaming group SNAI’s postponement of its announced bond last week. Meanwhile Interxion and Cable & Wireless both priced bonds on Tuesday. Are the good times over for the high yield bond market? Read EuroWeek this week to find out.

Portugal is this week the beneficiary of reports that Germany and the EU will stand behind Greece’s budget troubles, with the Iberian sovereign taking Eu13bn of orders for a 10 year bond. Pricing has been revised to mid-swaps plus 140bp from the initial range of 145bp-150bp. The positive spin on Greece has helped its five year bonds to trade in to 320bp over mid-swaps from 360bp yesterday and 375bp earlier in the week. Read Friday’s EuroWeek for commentary and aftermarket appraisals

Rabobank came to the senior unsecured market with a Eu1.75bn five year deal on Tuesday, at a time when some borrowers cannot access the market at attractive prices. This was the issuer’s first five year euro trade since January 2009 and its second visit to the euro market this year. To find out what market participants thought the deal meant for the market read EuroWeek on Friday.

Swedish carrier SAS may herald a second wave of corporate recapitalisations in Europe after it announced a Skr5bn ($680m) rights issue on Tuesday. This is its second large cash call in a year, after a worse than expected hit from the market downturn. Are equity investors prepared to get on board? Read EuroWeek on Friday

Two Middle East issuers are talking with investors ahead of what might be the first new issues from the region since November’s Dubai debt crisis. What premium will investors demand to buy new issues from the Gulf? Turn to EuroWeek on Friday for details of how Saudi real estate company Dar al-Arkan and Bahrain’s United Gulf Bank fare in the market.

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.

Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s state owned investment group, this week established a European commercial paper programme.

A number of SSA issuers sold large tickets in the European commercial paper market this week, and some dealers believe that some of the trades point to greater stability than other markets.