Switzerland

CEVA Logistics, the Swiss logistics and freight company, will provide Europe’s choppy IPO market with its first big test of investor sentiment since before the Easter holidays, having filed an intention to float document on Monday.

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.

Peking University Founder Group Co, BOC Aviation and Yuexiu Property Co are meeting investors for their upcoming bond plans, while China National Chemical Corp’s Swiss subsidiary Syngenta is also gearing up for a mega deal.

Commodity trader Glencore received a glorious response from the loan market to its latest refinancing, with the size of its annual revolver leaping by almost $4bn during syndication to close at $9.7bn. But senior bankers warned that this is a sign of lender desperation, not borrower strength, writes Michael Turner.

Commodity trader Glencore has ramped up the size of its short term revolver by almost $4bn between syndication launch and signing, with dozens of banks piling into the refinancing exercise in the latest example of deal starved lenders scrabbling for places to put money to work.

Swiss telecoms provider Swisscomm found strong demand for its new corporate bond deal. However, investors were very clear on where they saw the value in the deal and the issuer had to pay significant spreads to ensure the deal’s success.

Valiant Bank returned to the market last week to issue its second covered bond transaction which, like its first deal, was denominated in Swiss francs. Being double the size of the first deal, it showed potential demand for more.

Primary activity is likely to improve after the Easter break but bankers are telling issuers that covered bond new issue premiums are ‘a small price to pay’ in the context of much larger senior unsecured new issue concessions.

Glencore, the Swiss-based mining and commodities group, issued a $500m seven year equity-neutral convertible bond on Tuesday that achieved terms described as very aggressive. It attracted around 100 investors, including a couple of sovereign wealth funds.

Glencore, the Swiss commodities trading and mining company, has breathed some life into Europe's equity-linked market with a $500m equity-neutral convertible bond due in 2025.

The strong performance of Siemens Healthineers in the aftermarket has boosted the European IPO market and a raft of new listings are already covered ahead of their conclusions this week.

The day after a jumbo corporate bond issue is often a quiet one for new issuance as investors digest their allocations and assess the impact on secondary spreads. But after Sanofi's €8bn offering on Wednesday, Thursday was another bumper day.