UBS

The primary market for peripheral European covered bonds leapt back to life this week after a 12 week hiatus, with investors queuing up to buy a series of deals that emerged in quick succession.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles put to rest rumours about the bank group working on its much-hyped spin-off of Ferrari, the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer, on Thursday, as it announced that two European houses and one American one were to lead the transaction.

RWE, the German power company, sold its second hybrid capital bond of 2015 on Thursday — unusually choosing the Eurodollar market — to garner demand from yield-hungry investors in Asia and Switzerland.

Ado Properties, the Berlin-focused residential property company, priced its relaunched IPO on Wednesday at the bottom of its price range. The shares fell 2.5% on their debut on Thursday.

Nationwide Building Society stood out on another busy day in the covered bond market, shaking off three rivals to print a €1bn mortgage backed bond on Thursday in line with Lloyds and Bank of Nova Scotia.

In what was hailed as a momentous, perhaps record breaking, week in high yield finance, Japanese telecoms operator SoftBank took the crown by raising the year’s biggest Asian offshore high yield deal, writes Victor Jimenez.

Thai Union Frozen Products Public Company opened books for a Bt12.72bn ($371m) preferential public offering on July 20, following non-deal roadshows that brought positive feedback from the investor community.

China Railway Signal & Communications Corp (CRSC) started investor education for its $2bn Hong Kong IPO on Monday, July 20, becoming the first issuer brave enough to proceed with its equity-raising plans following the mainland stock market’s dramatic collapse earlier this month.

Chinese companies are really taking the euro bond market in their stride this year, with Beijing Energy Investment Holdings (BEIH) adding to the record-breaking volumes with another €300m ($326m). But unlike the euro deal from state-owned peer Beijing Infrastructure a day earlier, BEIH had to rely more on anchor orders to get its deal away.

A rare Greek IPO was announced on Tuesday, as Poseidon Containers, based in Athens, set out to raise about $230m by floating in New York, to finance purchases of container ships.

A quiet patch for block trades was broken on Tuesday evening when UBS launched an €865m accelerated bookbuild in Kone Corp, the Finnish maker of lifts — an exceptionally rare deal in the stock, which has a €20bn market capitalisation.

Three companies on Tuesday added to the prospects for corporate bond issuance in Europe this week. Bolloré and RWE are set to complete deals roadshowed in June while Eurofins scientific has given a new mandate.