Pre-migration untagged articles

The European Investment Bank sold the largest ever single tranche Kangaroo bond this week, a A$1.5bn ($1.39bn) 5-1/2 year deal, in a hectic week for the Australian markets.

A trio of issuers from Europe’s periphery successfully launched covered bond benchmarks totalling Eu3.25bn around public holidays on Monday and Wednesday this week.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group came to the euro senior unsecured market on Tuesday, with the book almost four times oversubscribed for a Eu1bn issue. It followed peer Commonwealth Bank of Australia which tapped the market last week for Eu1.5bn. To find out how investors reacted to the latest Australian issue read EuroWeek on Friday.

Banco Espírito Santo yesterday squeezed into an issuance window sandwiched between a public holiday in Madrid on Monday and today’s public holidays in the US and France to price a Eu1bn long five year Portuguese benchmark covered bond. Issuers that have been on the road, such as OP Mortgage Bank and EBS Mortgage Finance, could seek to launch deals on Thursday, with Fortis Bank Nederland also a candidate for issuance this week. Read EuroWeek this Friday for more about this week’s deals.

Commercial Bank of Qatar is selling $600m of tier two bonds at 400bp over mid-swaps on Tuesday in the first deal of its kind to come out of the region this year. Will it reopen the market for other Middle Eastern banks? And how has the market reacted to pricing on the dual tranche issue totaling $1.6bn? Read more in EuroWeek on Friday.

Eksportfinans returned to the dollar market in some style this week after an absence of over two years with its largest global bond to date, a $1.5bn five year note, and Province of Ontario had a book of some $6bn for its $4bn fixed rate deal. Read EuroWeek this week for coverage of both and to see who will be next in the queue.

Issuers from all ends of the ratings spectrum piled into the euro bond market early this week, with Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling leading the way on Monday with a Eu300m deal. Sporadic borrowers Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong conglomerate, and Swedish investment company Investor AB, followed on Tuesday, while Ba1/BB+ rated Italian carmaker Fiat also returned for its third euro deal of 2009, managing to bring the coupon down to below 7% for the first time this year and drawing an order book of Eu7.5bn. The deal widened slightly on the break, however, but had tightened again by Wednesday morning. Read EuroWeek on Friday to follow up on how these deals have performed and been received.

Around 200 investors took part in an Eu1.5bn accelerated bookbuild for Volkswagen preference shares yesterday as Qatar Investment Authority sold one half of its holding only three weeks after the fund sold parts of its stake in Barclays. What are Qatar’s long term plans with Volkswagen? Read EuroWeek on Friday.

A debut transaction for Spain’s Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) is being marketed to a select group of investors met on the roadshow with a price whisper of mid-swaps plus 30bp area. However, with interest surpassing the Eu3bn mark at 11am GMT, official guidance is expected to be tighter when the deal is launched tomorrow morning. Read EuroWeek on Friday to see if FROB can emulate SFEF’s success in international markets.

A rare flurry of high yield deals hit the market this week, as four very different credits readied issues. Ford’s funding arm FCE Bank priced a Eu500m deal on Tuesday, while Smurfit Kappa, the Irish packaging company, is expected sell a Eu500m eight year senior secured bond on Wednesday. Satellite company Inmarsat is planning a $650m senior unsecured bond issue and Polish media company TVN has announced Eu588m of issues for both refinancing and acquisition purposes. Read EuroWeek this week for more details and the market’s reaction to this sudden rush of deals.

A Eu3.9bn loan for the Nord Stream gas pipeline, the highest-profile project finance deal from Europe this year, is expected to be mandated by the end of the week. Lenders had to reply to the revised terms by last Friday and bankers close to the deal were confident of a strong response. “I’d be astonished if the banks don’t all accept the final pricing because, frankly, it’s good,” said one.

Porsche on Wednesday completed an Eu8.5bn refinancing with all its existing lenders reducing their commitments by 20% as the carmaker restructures its debt as part of its integration into the Volkswagen group. Coordinators Citi, Deutsche Bank and UBS had requested banks to express their interest before Porsche and VW held supervisory board meetings today and tomorrow. To find out more about the amended refinancing, read EuroWeek on Friday.