UBS

Bank of East Asia (BEA) opened books for a dollar-denominated additional tier one (AT1) on November 25, with the Hong Kong lender looking to use the proceeds to fund the purchase of its outstanding legacy tier one instruments.

A new issuer joined the convertible market on Tuesday, when Aurelius, a specialist German private equity firm, issued a €166m bond with a 1% coupon and 30% conversion premium.

Baosteel Hong Kong Investment Co launched a $500m bond exchangeable into shares of Hong Kong-listed China Construction Bank Corp on Tuesday evening, with HSBC and UBS leading the trade.

Piraeus Bank, the Greek bank most in need of new capital, said on Saturday (November 21) that it had completed the bookbuilding phase of its share sale, securing €1.34bn.

The leveraged finance market suffered an unpleasant shock this week, when $5.6bn of loans and bonds for the Carlyle Group’s acquisition of Veritas Software had to be pulled. Bankers were left blaming market sentiment, an aggressive structure — and each other, write Max Bower and Victor Jimenez.

A trio of issuers from Finland and Sweden raised €3.5bn of funding in the covered bond market this week with strong receptions and limited spread concessions.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) issued a €1bn 10 year Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite (OBG) this week. The deal came with a 2.125% coupon, the highest of any covered bond sold this year.

Russia bonds burst back to the top of the emerging market priority list without a sanction being lifted after Alfa Bank smashed through its own yield curve on Wednesday. Demand is rampant among supply-starved investors who will be gleeful about the thawing of the geopolitical frost between Russia and the west, writes Francesca Young.

Alfa Bank’s print of $500m 5% 2018s on Wednesday, which smashed 25bp through its own curve, demonstrated how big investor demand for Russian credit has become as the geopolitical frost begins to thaw.

Allied Irish Banks was in a generous mood on Thursday, launching its first tier two since the crisis at a much higher premium than rival bankers thought necessary.

UBS is planning to swap senior members of its China onshore and offshore teams as it looks to further strengthen its mainland business, according to an internal memo seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Bank of East Asia (BEA) has set the minimum coupon of its upcoming additional tier one issue at 5.5%, according to an announcement by the Hong Kong lender on November 18.