UniCredit

A pair of chunky fundraisings in Asia have been lapped up by banks, as China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group look to wrap up syndications next week.

The SRI market is in full swing. Two borrowers are set to come to market on Tuesday, while a third is going on the road to promote its return to the format.

Russian Copper Company has signed a $250m loan with a club of banks to refinance a previous facility.

Siemens has chosen to set a price range designed to please investors on the IPO of its medical technology division Siemens Healthineers, rather than seeking an aggressive valuation.

Austrian wood products manufacturer Egger Holzwerkstoffe sold its third hybrid capital deal on Monday, with its largest size and lowest coupon to date. At the same time, Brisbane Airport announced plans to diversify its investor base.

On Friday, Unilever Spreads released guidance for its €4.6bn equivalent loan to fund its acquisition by KKR. French telecoms infrastructure group Circet also launched a smaller deal, a €570m loan package for its buyout by Advent. But investor demand isn't satisfied yet, say some market participants.

Six of the nine investment grade corporate new issues in the last week of February were announced with a three letter acronym that, while providing clarity, served to frustrate investors keen to see greater volumes of issuance. WNG stands for “will not grow” and this week told investors that the meagre sized deals would not be increased, irrespective of demand.

The issues surrounding Italy’s debt burden refuse to go away, but not all market participants believe that a change of government on Sunday would be able to stall or reverse the country’s recent economic progress.

The case for investing in Italy’s banks is unlikely to be radically altered by the outcome of the country’s general election on Sunday, March 4, according to some FIG bond buyers.

Five new investment grade corporate bond deals were priced on Tuesday and, while pricing was competitive, none of the issuers allowed for any growth in the size of the deals as all five used a no-grow strategy.

Orders reached €1.6bn for Západoslovenská energetika (ZSE)’s five year note on Monday, marking a subscription rate of five times for Slovakia’s largest distribution operator.

Kernel, the Ukrainian grain and sunflower producer, has signed a $100m pre-export finance facility with a syndicate of European banks.