Raiffeisen Bank International AG

The City of London Corporation, via its endowment fund the City’s Cash, is set to enter the US private placement market for the first time. While UK councils are still a rare sight in the US PP market, agents believe they may be a fruitful asset class for the future. Silas Brown reports.

PARIS PRIVATE DEBT ROUNDTABLE European private debt markets are developing fast and diversifying — although many market participants would rather they became standardised. The Euro Private Placement market, founded in France, has not blossomed into a rival to the US PP. Many French issuers now travel to Germany’s larger Schuldschein market.

Rail Cargo Austria, the railway cargo subsidiary of Austrian railways operator ÖBB Holding, entered the Schuldschein market on Monday for a minimum of €100m.

Germany’s Salzgitter has closed a €350m-equivalent dollar and euro Schuldschein, with the steel products and tube maker blowing past its initial €200m launch amount.

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Austria’s Constantia Industries has launched a €75m multi-tenor Schuldschein. The industrial and commercial materials company will potentially stretch the maturity out to as long as 10 years.

European corporate bond investors showed they were hungry for paper on Thursday, despite the gloom infecting equity markets this week about the prospect of a restart to the China-US trade war. A flurry of issuers came to the market, hot from roadshows, and got plenty of over-subscription while slashing their spreads by 20bp to 30bp.

Switzerland’s Coca-Cola HBC has amended and extended its revolving facility, with the soft drink bottler supersizing its loan to €800m and including a sustainability element.

The Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus raised $500m with its first ever Eurobond on Wednesday, slicing 25bp off its yield from initial price thoughts.

The Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus has released initial price guidance for its Eurobond debut at 7% area for a five year Reg S/144A dollar bond. A banker away from the deal called the level fair.

The Basque Government was able to tighten pricing by 5bp from initial price thoughts as it received soaring demand for its 10 year sustainable bond on Tuesday — its biggest public issue since 2009.

Austrian plastics maker Borealis has returned to the Schuldschein market, seeking euros and dollars.