RBC Capital Markets

Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, the non-ringfenced arm of Lloyds Banking Group, has made its capital markets debut. The UK bank went private to place short-end paper in both fixed and floating rate formats, ahead of a debut in the public market later this week.

On Tuesday, the European Investment Bank took a near-identical approach to KfW on Monday, as it tapped a bond at the short end in sterling, and found similarly strong levels of demand, allowing it to issue £150m more than its planned minimum target.

RBC Capital Markets’ European SSA DCM head has been appointed to lead the bank’s public sector syndicate team, GlobalCapital understands.

The prospect of a blockbuster bond deal from US pharmaceutical group AbbVie was welcomed by dollar bond investors this week, after corporate issuance tumbled to its lowest monthly tally this year.

Royal Bank of Canada’s €1.25bn seven year issued on Wednesday dropped more orders than any covered bond has in years, ending up as one of the least subscribed deals of its size since 2011. The transaction starkly illustrated that the balance of power has shifted in favour of investors and offered a salutary lesson for ambitious issuers, writes Bill Thornhill.

Three SSA borrowers issued a total of £200m ($255m) of medium-term notes in response to an inquiry for three year non-call one fixed rate sterling bonds on Tuesday — which probably all sold to the same buyer — amid an uptick of paper in the currency.

There was high demand for dollar SSA paper as Kommunalbanken (KBN) printed at its tightest ever spread against the US Treasuries on Wednesday. Meanwhile the Province of Ontario has mandated for its own benchmark transaction.

The European Investment Bank printed a $1bn three year floating rate note linked to the secured overnight financing rate (Sofr) with a coupon structure that mirrors Sonia this week, as the market still tries to find a standard method for the dollar Libor replacement.

European Investment Bank is out with a $1bn three year floating rate note linked to the secured overnight financing rate (Sofr) with a novel coupon structure, though bankers off the deal say it looks cheap.

The US’s Occidental Petroleum has completed an $8.8bn loan and is raising a $13bn bridge to back its $57bn purchase of Anadarko Petroleum, with a bevy of lenders getting in on the action.

Greencoat UK Wind, the UK infrastructure investment fund focused on wind farms, has completed its latest equity capital raise to finance its pipeline of investments.

A quartet of public sector borrowers placed paper in the Australian dollar market this week. Two European SSAs priced sustainable and climate awareness bonds: the European Investment Bank priced its third climate awareness Kangaroo on Tuesday, while Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten brought its sustainability bond programme back to the Aussie market on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a pair of agencies raised funding in Australian dollars on Thursday: Export Development Canada and Eurofima both tapped Kangaroos.