RBC Capital Markets

NRW.Bank nipped in ahead of this week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting to tap keen investor interest in dollars on Wednesday, pricing a deal that on-looking bankers said was flat to its curve.

When UK telecoms company Vodafone announced in May that it had agreed to buy some of US rival Liberty Global’s European operations, it said it would use existing cash, €3bn of mandatorily convertible bonds and new debt, including hybrid bonds to fund the €18.4bn acquisition. On Wednesday, Vodafone sold the hybrid bonds, using four different tenors in three currencies.

Canada should have thought twice before stripping banks of their ability to use senior debt as an ordinary funding tool.

NRW.Bank hit screens on Tuesday for its first dollar benchmark of the year, ahead of what will be a closely watched Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.

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Nestle, Électrcité de France and BP have led a stampede to the dollar market ahead of an expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve next week, as credit markets shrugged off trade wars between the US and China.

Northern Ireland Electricity, the country’s electricity grid operator, overcame any fears investors may have had about the Irish border issue in the ongoing Brexit negotiations when it upsized its deal on a rare visit to the capital markets on Thursday.

French construction and concessions group Vinci sold its first public benchmark corporate bond deal in more than five years on Tuesday and was overwhelmed by both the quantity and quality of its order books for the dual tranche deal.

Public sector borrowers rushed into what is likely to be the last window for dollar issuance for a few weeks, removing some of the price tension they had enjoyed in what had been an undersupplied currency so far this year. That meant pricing correctly involved fine margins — although most deals made it through happily.

American IT services firm DXC Technology made its second visit to the European corporate bond markets on Wednesday and found a good reception from investors for its debut euro issuance.

The World Bank cleared $4bn in the dollar market on Thursday but with spreads very tight, SSA bankers are warning that there is still little margin for error in the currency.

Fédération des Caisses Desjardins du Quebec (CCDJ) was able to take €1bn of funding out of the euro market on Thursday. Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Canada is expected to bring the first senior bond under Canada’s next bail-in regime next week.