Société Générale

Central and Eastern European loans look set to start the year with a bang as a financing of around €2bn for Czech’s Energetický a průmyslový Holding (EPH) should close by the end of this week or early next, according to two bankers on the deal.

Intesa Sanpaolo is set to print the first additional tier one transaction of 2016 after opening the dollar tier two market for European banks last week, while ABN Amro opened the euro bank capital market on Monday.

Borrowers who issued covered bonds this week that are eligible for the European Central Bank’s purchase programme (CBPP3) did not receive such a strong reception as those whose bonds were not eligible.

Eleven covered bonds were priced in the first week of 2016 despite the onset of European holidays and US non-farm payroll data.

A healthy euro benchmark pipeline is building for next week, with one supranational looking to print and a pair of sovereigns believed to be considering deals, after a week that didn’t finish as strongly as it started for core issuers.

After surpassing several milestones in 2015, the covered bond market should be set for another record-breaking year in 2016. Bill Thornhill talks to Société Générale CIB’s head of covered bond origination, Ralf Grossmann, and the bank’s senior covered bond research analyst, Cristina Costa, about their predictions and recommendations for the forthcoming year.

Investors on Thursday pounced on Ireland's recovery story to lap up €3bn worth of 10 year bonds from the Celtic Tiger.

EasyJet, the UK budget airline, has mandated three banks for its first ever bond issue, and will run a roadshow next week.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) snagged tight pricing for its $1.5bn dual-tranche bond, completing one of the first deals of the year in Asia. Some accounts stayed away citing expensive pricing and geopolitical concerns, but investors still thronged to the credit, viewing it as a defensive play amid high volatility.

While the last few years have been all about the European high yield bond market rapidly developing into a dependable financing source for private equity sponsors, 2015 saw the loan market fight back. But as Max Bower and Victor Jimenez point out, it has done so at a time when LBO sponsors face increasing competition from IPOs and trade buyers.

Investment grade loan pricing has stopped falling — meaning the flow of refinancing deals is ebbing. Mergers and acquisitions, as ever, are what banks want, and they are confident of getting more in 2016. But will banks finally get round to weeding out unprofitable relationships? Rob Cooke reports.

Middle Eastern loans burst open in the fourth quarter of 2015, with deals aplenty for corporates, banks and sovereigns. The deal flow will not ebb this year, but pricing will rise and international lenders will play a bigger role, replacing local lenders. Elly Whittaker reports.