UniCredit

Yapi Kredi, the Turkish bank, has set the pricing for its additional tier one bond though eschewing a “traditional bookbuild process”.

UniCredit has hired Audrey Sebban as head of debt capital markets, FIG and SSA for France, the bank said on Tuesday.

UniCredit came to the dollar market on Tuesday, looking to sell a public senior non-preferred bond after its large private placement a few months ago. The bank was thought to be offering a large premium.

Bankers have confirmed that Qatar National Bank has entered the second phase of syndication to refinance an existing €2.25bn facility due for maturity in May 2019.

First it was a pair of car finance issuers. Then came a pair of utilities. And on Tuesday it was a pair of telecoms companies that came to the corporate bond market. But the latest couple really got investors revved up with more than €16.5bn of orders placed.

Yapı ve Kredi Bankası is planning an additional tier one dollar benchmark that looks likely to be the first issue of non-sovereign international bonds from the country since April.

The European Financial Stability Facility rebooted the euro public sector market on Monday with an intraday execution ahead of what SSA bankers expect to be a busy week for supply. Belgium and KfW are already on screens for benchmark trades in the 10 year part of the curve.

Bank of Nova Scotia and BayernLB found good demand for their covered bonds issued in the belly of the curve on Friday, but UniCredit AG (HVB) experienced a more challenging sales process for its 10 year Pfandbrief. Crédit Agricole will be hoping for a better reception when it issues a 10 year next week.

As is becoming traditional in the European corporate bond market, car finance issuers sold the first new issues of the year. The fact the market had to wait just one day was a positive, considering that the backdrop was largely unchanged from the end of 2018, when the market had been difficult to access. However, there were some warning signs other issuers will do well to heed.

The covered bond market is likely to remain equally busy on Friday as it was on Thursday with a further three deals mandated. Bankers say next week could become even more frenetic.

The European corporate bond market had to wait just one day for the first new issue of 2019. Some participants had expected volatility in the global financial markets to result in a blank first week for corporates, but finance subsidiaries of Renault and Toyota opted to start their financing for the year on Thursday.

Russian shipping firm Sovcomflot has closed a $264m club facility with five international lenders, although the outlook for Russian companies in the syndicated loan market remains questionable going into the new year.