Rabobank

The short Easter week saw a timid showing of new high grade corporate issuance in the European market but investors snapped up the trades that were on screens.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market was populated with well rated issuers on Wednesday, as triple-B borrowers took a cautious approach and stayed away after the Easter weekend.

Italy and Portugal are the first two eurozone sovereigns out of the blocks for syndications following the Easter break, with the former looking to extend its curve by a further five years.

Loans still under moratoria may be at a particularly high risk of impairment, according to fresh data from the European Banking Authority this week. The figures also revealed signs of a more general deterioration in asset quality within the EU.

Athene Global Funding encountered slim demand on its return to the sterling market this week, but UBS had better luck at the short end of the maturity curve.

Trafigura, one of the world’s largest commodity traders, has completed its European bank facility refinancing to add sustainability-linked targets to its debt, a month after the company made its debut in the Schuldshein market.

India’s Adani Green Energy has raised a $1.35bn green loan to support the construction of projects under its renewable portfolio.

Rabobank has developed a bilateral loan facility with a margin linked to food waste, in an attempt to homogenise parts of the otherwise bespoke sustainability-linked loan market, but not everyone is convinced that there will be much use for a one size fits all approach to KPIs.

Barclays and Standard Chartered gave euro investors rare opportunities to build subordinated exposure to UK banks this week. The issuers were looking to benefit from strong market conditions during a more stable trading period for interest rates.

Rabobank has developed a bilateral loan facility with a margin linked to food waste, in an attempt to homogenise parts of the otherwise bespoke sustainability-linked loan market, making it easier for treasurers to add ESG financing to their capital structures.

Indian agrochemical firm UPL Corp has opened the country’s first sustainability-linked loan into syndication.

Barclays won plaudits for steering a 21 non-call 20 tier two into an extremely tight pricing level this week, following earlier examples from the large French banks. It accompanied its deal with the sale of some long dated senior paper.