UBS

Three block trades are in the market, as secondary placement activity remains busy. The most exotic of the trades is for Sergey Galitsky, founder of the Russian retailer Magnit, who is selling up to 1m shares in the business – apparently to finance improvements to the stadium at his football team, FC Krasnodar.

The month-long gloom surrounding Chinese property credits looks to be finally dispersing after Shimao Property Holdings priced the sector’s first high yield bond of the year on February 3. Not only did the transaction attracted a huge order book, it also managed to attain solid pricing, which paves the way for its peers to follow.

Chinese technology giant Tencent has decided to go ahead with a Reg S/144A transaction while it was in the middle of non-deal roadshow after it wasencouraged by strong feedback from US investors and the recent robust trading sessions.

International bond investors welcomed back Tower Bersama for the first time in two years as the Indonesian telecoms tower operator priced a $350m seven year non-call four offering on February 3. On the back of strong demand, the issuer achieved the lowest ever yield for a seven or longer tenor offering from a private Indonesian company in the high yield market.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice launched a highly successful block trade in B&M Retail, the UK discount retailer, this evening. By 6.30pm the trade had been increased from 100m shares to 120m, and was set to be priced at the day’s closing price, making the block worth £384m.

Asset managers are increasingly trading products that are based on the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index on the back of a spike in volatility. According to UBS, asset managers are looking to the VIX as a tool for hedging, in addition to a product that they can trade in their clients’ portfolios.

CRH, the Irish building materials group listed in London, sold over 74m new shares on Monday for £1.22bn (€1.61bn), as it completed the second of two capital market deals backing its takeover of assets being sold by building materials businesses Holcim and Lafarge.

HKBN, or Hong Kong Broadband Network, plans to start investor education for its IPO of around $600m from Monday, February 9, according to two bankers on the transaction. Indonesia’s Mitra Keluarga is also expected to hit the road on the same day for its own listing.

Indonesian telecom tower operator Tower Bersama is looking to make its first appearance in the international bond market since making its debut in 2013, opening books for a seven non call four year dollar bond on Tuesday, February 3.

Chinese technology giant Tencent is set to talk with US investors on conference calls this week after picking three banks for a possible bond.

CRH, the Irish building materials group listed in London, this morning launched an accelerated bookbuild to increase its capital by 9.99%, as part of the funding for its €6.5bn acquisition of assets being divested by Holcim and Lafarge.

CRH, the Irish building materials company, has signed a bridge loan for the full €6.5bn it is paying cement makers Holcim and Lafarge for a package of assets in Europe, Canada, Brazil and the Philippines.