Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Market participants rejoiced this week as the primary market landscape returned to normal after US Treasury yield volatility subsided and a number of deals, both investment grade and high yield, came to the market.

SMBC Nikko Capital Markets has hired an executive director in debt capital markets, covering French corporate clients.

Corporate bond issues came at a healthy clip in the US market this week, despite earnings blackouts, as investors showed a preference for highly rated paper.

Ping An International Financial Leasing, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China’s Ping An Group, is casting a wide net for its $500m loan comeback, in a bid to diversify its financing sources — and its banking relationships.

Equate Petrochemical, the petrochemical producer part-owned by Kuwait, has laid plans to re-enter the international debt markets after less than a year since its last outing. The mandate comes just days after the IMF warned Kuwait to undergo fiscal consolidation after its economy shrank last year.

Indonesia palm oil company Perkebunan Nusantara III (PTPN) has signed an extension agreement for a $390.6m loan after almost a year-long discussion with banks.

Mining Industry Indonesia (Mind ID) is testing lenders’ appetite for a $1.5bn dual-tranche loan that has been launched into syndication through a group of eight banks.

Singapore’s agribusiness company Wilmar International has returned to the loan market for a borrowing of up to $1bn.

Freeport Indonesia, a copper mining company, is in talks with banks for a new $750m loan for capital expenditure, after being forced to cancel a larger facility last year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dongfeng Nissan Auto Finance Co came to China’s ABS market this week with a Rmb4.41bn ($673m) auto loan deal under the Vinz series, taking advantage of a recent decline in onshore yields.

Marvell Technology, the Bermuda-registered US chipmaker, jumped into the dollar bond market this week with a $2bn trade linked to a $10bn acquisition, after clinching the deal more quickly than expected.

BNP Paribas has leapfrogged JP Morgan to become the top bookrunner in EMEA loans this quarter, with the French bank almost doubling its market share. But this increase has yet to play out in the bank’s bond bookrunning activities in the region.