UK
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Trading levels given are bid-side spreads versus mid-swaps and/or an underlying benchmark as of Thursday's close. The source for secondary trading levels is Interactive Data. -
Corporate bond issuance volume in Europe this week was lighter than previous weeks. However, there were still seven issuers that priced deals. The main difference this week was the size of deals. Nestlé’s €850m eight year transaction was the largest one to print, but most order books were still at least twice oversubscribed as investors showed little sign of slowing down for the summer.
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The UK Debt Management Office broke yet another record on Tuesday, building its largest ever book in cash terms for an inflation-linked syndication. The demand was such that the bond then tightened in secondary to move past the fair value level at the book open, said one of the leads.
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A surfeit of sterling liquidity drove demand for covered bonds to new heights this week with exceptional deal executions seen in two Canadian bank transactions, raising the likelihood that a UK bank will soon follow.
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The Financial Conduct Authority’s plan to create a new premium listing category in the UK for companies controlled by sovereign states is already dividing market opinion. The move, put out for consultation on Thursday, looks like a bid to lure to the IPO of Saudi Aramco, which could be the biggest flotation ever, to the London Stock Exchange.
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In just three days this week, Carillion, the UK construction and support services group, lost 70% of its value, prompting fears of a debt-to-equity swap. This anguish comes only five months after Carillion raised €112m in the Schuldschein market, which is unused to defaults, write Silas Brown and Jon Hay.
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Equiniti, the UK provider of payment and administration services, has launched a fully underwritten rights issue to partly finance its takeover of Wells Fargo’s share registrar unit.
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On Thursday London & Quadrant Housing Trust became the latest issuer to tap the strong demand from sterling investors with a £500m 12 year and 40 year dual tranche structure. This was the second dual tranche sterling deal following Digital Stout’s £600m seven year and 12 year combination the day before.
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Digital Realty used its Digital Stout Holding entity to sell a dual tranche sterling bond offering on Tuesday. The data solutions provider was overwhelmed with interest for its £600m deal, and will use the proceeds to rid DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT) of existing debt.
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At current spreads UK covered bonds still offer good value even though a rise in the UK counter-cyclical capital buffer (CCyB) means international investors will incur a higher capital charge in buying the deal, said analysts at Citi.
