Pre-migration untagged articles

The Turkish lira bond market returned to business after a five month lay-off as Deutsche Bank found enough traction to self-lead a TL75m ($45m) two year zero-coupon note on Wednesday. The first Eurobond in the currency since August was sold to two investors.

UBS sold its base metals, oil and US power and gas businesses to Barclays last Friday. Barclays Capital has agreed terms for transferring the risks associated with the businesses and the full risk transfer should be completed by the end of the second quarter.

European commercial paper issuance fell further this week, with some UK banks showing a considerable drop. However, the overall reduction for the financial sector remains in line with that for the market as a whole, and market participants report that bank spreads are stable.

Bayerische Landesbank on Wednesday priced what is believed to be the first publicly sold Pfandbrief issue since Lehman Brothers collapsed, a Sfr150m (Eu100m) three year public sector backed deal that also marks a return to publicly sold foreign currency issuance for covered bonds in general.

Crédit Agricole sold its inaugural jumbo covered bond on Wednesday, a Eu1.25bn seven year deal priced at 135bp over mid-swaps that is only the second jumbo since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

More than Eu31bn of bonds issued by corporates have already been sold in 2009, as borrowers are encouraged to pre-finance for the year ahead. Investors are still coming back for more. E.On returned to the euro market yesterday to print another Eu1.75bn of five year paper at mid-swaps plus 195b, taking its funding for the year to more than Eu5.6bn already. But it is not only single-A rated utilities which are attracting investor attention: Anheuser Busch, rated Baa2/BBB+, will price a triple-tranche euro and sterling transaction today. For full coverage of all the deals this week, read EuroWeek this Friday.

One of Russia’s biggest blue-chips, state-owned oil group Rosneft, is proving that despite bearish predictions for emerging market loans, top companies with big relationship pulls still have a lot of clout. Rosneft is putting the final touches on a $1.55bn facility, for which five banks are already understood to have lined up at senior level. Read EuroWeek on Friday for more on the loan market in central and eastern Europe.

A veritable flood of SSA issuers have piled into the market to get deals away this week. SFEF is trying its luck in the dollar market for the first time, the European Investment Bank has re-opened the five year dollar sector and Finland has printed its first in the currency since 2004. Taking centre-stage in the euro market is the Hellenic Republic which, following its downgrade last week, printed Eu5.5bn five year at 260bp over mid-swaps. Cades, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten, EIB and KfW are also in the market, all in the two year maturity, while Agence Francaise de Developpement is testing appetite at the longer end.

Tier one spreads have capitulated this week on the face of the UK government’s decision to convert its preference shares in RBS into ordinary shares, meaning that the government does not own hybrids in the bank, increasing the risk of coupon deferral. Lloyds which completed an exchange of its upper tier two securities into innovative tier one has been one of the victims, although not the only one. Emotions have been running high in the market as readers will be able to find out in EuroWeek on Friday.

Cades took advantage of Asian investor demand yesterday, selling a $200m note, the latest in a stream of chunky dollar trades from the issuer in recent months. Read about how this issuer and others have harnessed Asian demand in EuroWeek on Friday.