UBS

Westpac New Zealand priced an eight year Swiss franc note on Friday, the largest single tranche trade from a New Zealand bank ever in that currency.

Westpac New Zealand launched an eight year Swiss franc deal on Friday, making it the second international issuer in the market this week.

Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Co and Simcere Pharmaceutical Group are looking to raise a combined $2.5bn from Hong Kong IPOs that could launch in the first half of 2016.

South Korea's KEB Hana Bank is set to meet investors next week ahead of its first foray into the dollar bond market since its merger.

Hsin Chong Construction Group is meeting fixed income investors to gauge interest for what would be its second dollar bond.

Credit Suisse and UBS dominated Dealogic’s European FIG bookrunner rankings for 2015, helped by their issuer parents cranking up their issuance of holdco and capital instruments.

Eleven covered bonds were priced in the first week of 2016 despite the onset of European holidays and US non-farm payroll data.

Bank restructurings come in two flavours — the kind where the business stays pretty much the same, and the kind where it doesn’t. 2015 was the year of the latter, as new chief executives, new business models and a pervasive sense of existential doubt hung over investment banking. Owen Sanderson reports

While the last few years have been all about the European high yield bond market rapidly developing into a dependable financing source for private equity sponsors, 2015 saw the loan market fight back. But as Max Bower and Victor Jimenez point out, it has done so at a time when LBO sponsors face increasing competition from IPOs and trade buyers.

IPO, rights issue and equity-linked volume were all down in 2015, so the fact that block trades maintained their 2014 level of issuance made them the stand-out business of the year in equity capital markets. Now stocks participants are asking themselves if they can keep up the pace. Olivier Holmey reports.

After the second half of last year proved a real headache for primary issuance, participants in the European IPO market are readying themselves to brave markets that could be just as choppy in the first half of 2016. As Olivier Holmey reports, some of 2015’s innovations are likely to become widespread.

Barclays has printed one of the largest dollar senior trades from a European bank in recent memory, as it and Santander UK took home $5bn of holding company debt between them on Tuesday.