UniCredit

Schaeffler returned to the bond market this week, for the first time since Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s upgraded the industrial bearings maker in September, after it managed to sell €950m of its stake in tyre producer Continental.

Türk Ekonomi Bankasi (TEB) is preparing to join its Turkish bank peers in the medium term note market. Bankers expect it to debut before the summer, but are perplexed by the borrower’s programme which will only let it print notes with maturities of up to a year.

German insurer Württembergische Lebensversicherung sold its second ever subordinated bond on Wednesday. Recent sub deals from insurers have attracted favourable responses from investors, a result of offering a more attractive yield than comparable bank paper.

Schaeffler, the German ball bearing maker, priced all four tranches of its €2bn high yield bond issue at the tight ends of revised guidance on Thursday.

Glencore Xstrata hosted a packed bank meeting on Wednesday for its $17.3bn loan refinancing, but some loans bankers considering the deal said the flat 40bp fee structure for those joining the syndication left little reason to provide anything other than the smallest ticket.

Schaeffler, the German ball bearing maker, released initial price thoughts for the three euro tranches of its €2bn high yield bond issue on Wednesday morning.

German insurer Wüerttembergische Lebensversicherung is set to price its second ever subordinated bond on Wednesday afternoon. Recent sub deals from insurers have attracted favourable responses from investors, a result of offering a more attractive yield than comparable bank paper.

Anglo-Swiss commodities group Glencore Xstrata is preparing to host a bank meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss refinancing a $17.3bn loan that it signed last year.

German ball bearing maker Schaeffler launched the second stage of its latest debt refinancing on Monday, announcing a €2bn high yield issue in four tranches.

Italian insurer Assicurazioni Generali took advantage of a good market tone to offer a deal that combined features of recent success stories: subordinated insurance debt, and Europe's periphery.

Alain Afflelou, the French optician chain, priced its €440m bond issue on Thursday April 17 – the second European high yield deal in three days to have the more aggressive 1.5 year initial non-call period.

In contrast to their evaporating taste for Russian risk, banks’ buoyant appetite for central and eastern European names was underlined this week as Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding (EPH) launched its largest syndicated loan, writes Michael Turner.