Santander

French motorways operator Autoroutes du Sud brought a €500m no-grow bond to the market on Wednesday, drawing in a €2.2bn order book.

With Ascension Day putting a cap on activity in euro-denominated bonds, the sterling market glided into action as Travis Perkins issued a £300m deal.

Spanish car parts maker Gestamp on Wednesday priced a €500m secured bond to redeem all of its old euro notes at first call.

Banco Santander posted a €1.6bn profit for January to March, above market expectations but 5% down from 2015’s first quarter, which the bank blamed on local currencies’ depreciation against the euro.

A flotilla of IPOs reached harbour safely this week, through waters calmed by the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing medicine, and whatever other magical ingredient has made financial professionals feel so much better since Easter. But one debutant tripped up and another IPO was pulled.

London & Quadrant Housing Trust rode the waves of strong demand for corporate sterling paper on Wednesday as it achieved a minimal new issue premium for a bond that was over three times oversubscribed.

Amadeus, the Spanish airline ticketing systems group, has signed a €500m revolving credit facility with a group of 12 banks, bringing in two new lenders as two dropped out.

The corporate bond market hosted its second zero coupon deal of the year on Monday, courtesy of Unilever, as the UK-Dutch consumer goods company printed €1.5bn across three tranches of bonds.

Argentina fever has gripped financial markets after the sovereign’s record breaking return to international bond markets this week, with sub-sovereigns likely to be the first to take advantage of the clamour for bonds.

Vallourec’s €480m rescue rights issue is heading for a successful conclusion on Friday April 22, bankers working on it said this week.

Tightening pricing to well inside what many market participants had expected did not prevent Argentina holding onto the bulk of its $69bn book and printing more bonds than it had planned on Tuesday in one of the most remarkable trades in recent memory.

Carrefour, the French hypermarket chain, issued a €750m bond on Tuesday, in a market enthusiastic for corporate debt.