Swiss Francs

Commodities trader Trafigura Group Pte. will meet Swiss investors next Tuesday to discuss an inaugural Swiss franc bond.

Goldman Sachs sold its largest amount of Swiss franc bonds in a single Sfr325m issue on Tuesday afternoon, encouraging hopes that the Swiss franc might be regaining its status as a global funding currency.

Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) sold 5.5 year Swiss franc bonds on Thursday, its first issue in the market for two years. With international supply falling in the last few years, Swiss investors leapt at the opportunity to buy investment grade Latin American credit.

Swiss franc bond market players are conflicted about the substantial slide in the Swiss franc, which has lost about 3.5% of its value against both the euro and dollar in the past two months.

Transurban Queensland Finance returned to the Swiss franc bond market on Wednesday with the Australian toll road developer’s deal a reassuring moment amid a period of scant issuance as investors fret about interest rates.

South Korea’s GS Caltex Corp sealed a Swiss franc denominated bond on Thursday, diversifying away from its usual Korean won and US dollar funding.

A director of UBS' Swiss franc syndicate is leaving the desk and the financial sector on Monday, to pursue a career at a technology start up.

New Zealand financial Kiwibank is holding non-deal roadshows in Switzerlandahead of what could be its first bond issue in Swiss francs since 2014.

The Commercial Bank of Qatar sold three year Swiss franc bonds on Tuesday, to serve as the best illustration yet of the rekindling of the relationship between Swiss buyers and Middle Eastern financial credits that could bloom into a record year for issuance, writes Silas Brown.

Gazprom made its sixth appearance in the Swiss franc bond market on Wednesday, but for only the first time as an investment grade credit after S&P upgraded its rating. Institutional investors, which only buy bonds that are eligible for the Swiss Bond Index, piled into the transaction, pushing pricing down and the size up.

The perception of the Swiss investor as exhaustively prudent is becoming ever more inaccurate. With borrowers of all stripes making inroads into the Swiss franc bond market, and buyers receptive to credits from across the world, the natives are more intrepid than other markets give them credit for.

The Commercial Bank of Qatar debuted in Swiss francs on Tuesday, selling three year bonds to ‘the who’s who’ of the Swiss franc bond market, according to a banker on the deal. CBQ’s trade is the best illustration yet of Swiss investors growing more comfortable with Middle Eastern financial credit.