Santander

Commerzbank was able to attract "very high quality books" for its issue of non-preferred senior euro and sterling bonds on Wednesday.

Banco Santander has followed through on its commitment to call an additional tier one (AT1) bond, after extending the life of the instrument a number of times in 2019. The decision comes as favourable market conditions increased the likelihood that issuers will choose to refinance their contingent capital securities this year.

Spain and Cyprus attracted strong demand for their syndicated bonds on Tuesday, with the former receiving the largest ever order book for a public sector euro benchmark. Italy and Belgium will add to the eurozone sovereign supply on Wednesday after mandating leads for new 30 and 10 year trades, respectively.

European banks don’t believe they have a free option to extend the lives of their additional tier one (AT1) securities, despite the apparent success of Banco Santander’s call policy.

Environmentally minded investors piled into green and sustainable corporate bond issues in Europe on Monday, with deals for Energias de Portugal, South Korean steel company Posco and National Grid garnering around €10.3bn of demand.

The European Financial Stability Facility took the spotlight in the euro public sector bond market on Monday with an intraday execution ahead of a busy week. The European Investment Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, Spain and Cyprus have all announced new deals.

Issuers this week have steered clear of negative yielding covered bonds, choosing longer maturities for their securities. Crédit Agricole Italia went as far as 25 years, while on the other end was Santander UK marketing a seven year tenor.

Yankee banks set a scorching pace for issuance in the first week of 2020 as they took advantage of red-hot funding conditions.

Foreign and domestic banks flocked to the UK this week as they sought to take advantage of stellar funding conditions in the sterling market. Bankers said this was the first chance issuers had to benefit from opportunities in the currency following December’s general election, which removed a lot of short-term uncertainty around Brexit.

Crossover credit Cellnex, the Spanish mobile phone mast owner, offered investment grade bond investors the chance to pick up some spread on Thursday, while unrated Air France-KLM waits in the wings.

Green corporate bond investors had plenty to sink their teeth into on Thursday, with electric utlities E.On bringing three tranches and Red Electrica making its debut in the format.

ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank opened books on new senior deals in the sterling bond market, with bankers recognising that the currency is 'working very well' for international names.