Swiss Francs

A pipeline of deals is building in the Swiss franc bond market for when the US election is concluded. Among those circling the market is Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, which could finish its 2020 funding with a public benchmark.

THE CITY of Lugano sold a bond that has pushed the Swiss franc curve out to its farthest point this week, locking in a coupon of 0.15% for 50 years, following a similar deal for Bern last month.

Ronald Hinterkircher, who is retiring from the Swiss franc bond market after a 40 year career, has told GlobalCapital that digitalisation and the possible removal of the withholding tax for foreign investors could change the market over the next few years. But with the European Central Bank propping up the euro bond market, arbitrage opportunities for international companies in Swiss francs are vanishingly slim.

Givaudan and Nant de Drance attracted big order books this week, driven by demand from asset managers, allowing both to price Swiss franc bonds through fair value.

Raiffeisen Schweiz surpassed expectations with a self-led additional tier one (AT1) deal on Wednesday, printing Sfr525m ($572.4m) after finding strong international demand.

Ronald Hinterkircher, Raiffeisen Schweiz’s current co-head of capital markets in Zurich, is set to retire next month after over 40 years in the capital markets.

Syngenta, the agricultural chemical and seed company, returned to the Swiss franc market this week for its second Swissie bond of the year — a blowout three year deal that surpassed the market’s expectations.

Africa Finance Corp, the pan-African development finance institution, printed its first green bond on Monday.

Africa Finance Corp, the pan-African development finance institution, printed its first green bond on Monday – the first in Swiss francs from a CEEMEA supranational.

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), the pan-African development finance institution, has held investor calls ahead of its first green bond issue that Swiss franc bankers expect to launch next week.

The Africa Finance Corporation, the pan-African development finance institution (DFI), has mandated a pair of banks to lead its first ever green bond issue, which it will sell publicly into the Swiss franc market.

Swisscom raised Sfr100m ($110m) on Thursday with an 11 year bond sold without the involvement of an intermediary bank. The company worked with Swiss fintech company Valyo to issue the bond through its platform that directly connects issuers and investors.