UBS

The spread between double-B and single-B rated European bonds is at its widest since the aftermath of the financial crisis, as investment grade investors reach down to the top layer of high yield.

UBS’s corporate finance revamp is a vibrant work in progress, not the last hurrah of a fading champion, writes David Rothnie.

Chinese metal packaging and bottling solutions provider CFP is planning to raise $250m-$300m from an IPO in Hong Kong in the second half of this year, having filed a preliminary prospectus with the city’s regulatory body.

UBS added to a hectic week of AT1 issuance on Friday, making its debut in the format with a triple tranche deal denominated in dollars and euros. The Swiss bank is the first issuer to sell low and high trigger AT1 notes as part of the same transaction and is also the first Swiss issuer to sell a high trigger instrument in dollars.

This week was supposed to be all about IPOs in the European equity capital market, with the pricing of a string of deals, above all the highly successful €4.25bn privatisation of Aena, the Spanish airports operator. But a carnival of block trades on Thursday stole the show, as sellers from British Telecom to Silvio Berlusconi pounced on a rising market, either to lock in recent gains opportunistically or to further strategic business needs. Jon Hay reports.

UBS and Credit Suisse tackled the damage to their profitability from the Swiss National Bank’s abandonment of the Swiss franc-euro peg in their full year results this week.

Covered bond issuer PS Hypo sold the first syndicated Swiss franc bond with a negative yield on Wednesday as part of a Sfr965m ($1.0bn) four-tranche deal.

With up to $50bn of additional tier one deals expected to hit the bond markets this year, bank funding teams are praying that this evolving but crucial asset class can settle down and help them meet their capital needs.

An incredible streak of record breaking low yields skipped through the covered bond market this week as issuers from Germany and France set new records, while another outside the Eurozone issued the first deal longer than 10 years with a coupon below 1%. Despite the low level of return, investors piled into all three euro transactions.

UBS has won a High Court fight with the hedge fund which formerly backed its structured products business, with the judge agreeing that deep cuts in UBS’s fixed income division did not breach the terms of the agreement.

Rating: Ba2/-/BB

Metro Pacific Investments Corp (MPIC) raised Ps8.9bn ($200m) on February 9 through a top-up placement dominated by demand from long-only funds, as investors took advantage of growth opportunities available in the Philippine stock market. But the action behind the scenes in the run up to the deal was far more exciting, with UBS stealing the show from some of its rivals.