Santander

Vallourec’s bond issue may have gone well today, but for the other corporate issuers in euros and sterling it was a much rougher ride. Accor launched a €150m tap and RCI Banque a £250m sterling three year – but neither managed to tighten pricing from their initial thoughts.

Vallourec, the French oil and gas pipeline maker, issued a €500m 10 year bond on Tuesday after building a book of €3.1bn, despite a jittery day for the equity market.

Monday was a soft day for equities and credit spreads, but BP had little if any hesitation in launching its second large euro bond of the year. The UK oil company’s deal was the eighth big dual tranche deal in euros since BMW set the fashion on August 26.

Abengoa, the Spanish renewable energy and engineering firm, announced a roadshow on Monday for a green bond – the first in euros for a high yield issuer.

Diageo, the UK alcoholic drinks group, was named by research firm CreditSights last week as one of the European consumer goods companies most exposed to risk from the Scottish independence referendum.

The covered bond market for sterling FRNs picked up on Monday as Barclays priced the largest ever deal in the currency and Danske Bank priced a benchmark. The two borrowers follow Nordea Eiendomskreditt, which attracted robust demand last week.

Europe’s corporate bond market delivered on bankers’ and investors’ hopes this week, as issuers belted out €13.2bn of deals, pushing this week — by a €20m margin — into the top 10 of the market’s busiest weeks ever.

Société Générale followed up Monday’s rush of subordinated deals with a self led euro benchmark 12 year non-call seven year tier two deal and initial price thoughts offered a chunky new issue premium.

The heavy flow of European corporate bond issues that bankers have been predicting for September began in earnest today, showing that the market’s strength has been no idle boast. Investors swallowed five roadshowed deals in euros and sterling and Vodafone launched a two tranche issue without warning. All were gobbled down with ease.

Santander and UniCredit reopened the door to the additional tier one market this week only to find what lay behind it was a very different dynamic from the one borrowers experienced before summer. An expected burst of supply is on the way and historically low coupons are causing investors to shy away from the AT1 from major European banks.

Santander is out with the first additional tier one (AT1) trade from a major European bank since June, bringing just a €3.75bn book ahead of pricing for a perpetual non-call seven year deal — suggesting that the demand dynamics of the asset class may have changed since the first half of the year.

British cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco has secured financing for its $7.1bn acquisition of brands from Reynolds American, and refinanced its existing revolving credit facilities.