UBS

Crédit Agricole’s Swiss subsidiary sold its first structured covered bond in Swiss francs on Wednesday. The bond was issued under a new programme that differentiates it from covered bonds issued by its parent bank under French law in the Swiss market.

FIG bankers say that market conditions are ripe for capital deals, but that issuers are starting to run out of room for more subordinated debt.

Hong Kong property company Hysan Development Co made a quick return to the bond market on Wednesday. It added $200m to a perpetual non-call three year deal priced just last week, thanks to strong follow-up demand.

Australia and New Zealand broke bond syndication records yet again this week, as Australia printed its largest ever deal while New Zealand scooped its largest ever order book with a seven year tap.

Road King Infrastructure found strong support for its high yield dollar deal on Tuesday, gathering $2bn of orders for a $300m transaction.

Intesa Sanpaolo racked up plenty of orders behind an additional tier one (AT1) on Tuesday, showing that investors are hungry for new sources of yield. The deal ended a long pause for sales of subordinated debt in the euro market.

Investors are doubtful whether the extraordinary stock market rally of the last few months will continue, as they await news of a vaccine, further economic fallout from the pandemic, and the result of the US presidential election. If they want to maintain equity exposure while limiting potential losses, UBS analysts have suggested using call options for certain indices.

New Zealand began marketing a tap of its outstanding April 2027 bond on Monday as sovereigns get moving for a busy period of syndications. Finland could follow up with the first post-summer pubic sovereign bond in a core currency later this week.

Investors are still keen to buy bonds from Hong Kong corporations, with their interest reflected in the solid support for deals from Hongkong Electric Co and Nan Fung International Holdings on Thursday.

China Jianyin Investment (JIC) and Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Industrial Investment Group were among two Mainland Chinese companies to sell dollar bonds on Thursday.

Phoenix Mills, an Indian retail mall developer and operator, bagged Rp11bn ($146.7m) in fresh equity this week from a qualified institutional placement.

UBS reckons it has a hit upon a ‘unique formula’ for growth as it expands its investment banking offering to its high net worth clients, writes David Rothnie.