Swiss Francs

A trio of foreign banks tapped an attractive Swiss market this week, finding opportunities to top up their well-advanced funding programmes with a bit of pricing arbitrage.

Intershop Holding hit the market on Wednesday for a Sfr100m ($110.5m) no-grow five year green bond — its first outing in the format.

Santander and Barclays ended multi-year absences from the Swiss franc market to land a pair of senior deals flat to euros this week as funding diversification trumped arbitrage considerations.

A favourable move in the basis swap allowed the Province of Quebec to return to the Swiss franc market after seven years away this week, landing its latest bond at a spread flat to its domestic curve.

Triple-B credit OC Oerlikon achieved a remarkable result on Monday, said bankers, as it issued a Sfr575m three tranche deal, which it will use to fund its acquisition of INglass. It was joined on screens by Pfandbriefbank's smallest deal since 2019.

Despite paying a chunky new issue premium, Deutsche Bahn was still able to score some attractive arbitrage with its latest Swiss franc deal this week, and with favourable pricing on offer for foreign names, bankers are confident more could follow.

Damien Aellen has been promoted to co-head of Credit Suisse’s Swiss franc bond syndicate desk.

Switzerland's cantonal banks enjoyed an open window this week thanks to Pfandbriefzentrale's extended stint away from the market. Elsewhere, the Canton of Zurich was able to harness the lack of sub-sovereign supply to land at an aggressive level versus govvies.

Russian Railways ventured into the Swiss franc market this week to sell the first hybrid corporate bond in over two years, a sign of a maturing Swissie market, according to local market participants.

Verizon Communications, the US telecoms group, embarked on an almost $3bn niche currency bond issuing spree this week, which included the largest foreign Swiss franc bond since early 2018.

A flurry of Swiss franc issuance dusted the market this week, as domestic and foreign borrowers entered a more settled market.

Grid operator Transpower New Zealand returned to the Swissie market this week, landing through its outstanding curve while offering a small premium over Swissgrid.