UniCredit

Pohjola Bank assumed the sole responsibility for euro senior unsecured supply this week as FIG syndicates had their first glimpse this year of an increasingly frustrating trend — banks turning down excellent issuance conditions because of reduced funding needs.

Do & Co, the Austrian catering and restaurants company, issued its first bond on Tuesday, in a successful sale that attracted just under €600m of demand.

Banca Popolare di Vicenza is preparing to launch a platform to issue minibonds in Italy, believing it has solved several of the practical challenges facing this nascent market for bonds from small and medium sized enterprises.

Do & Co, the Austrian catering and restaurants company, issued its first bond on Tuesday, in a successful sale that attracted just under €600m of demand.

Do & Co, the Austrian catering and restaurants company, issued its first bond on Tuesday, in a successful sale that attracted just under €600m of demand.

HellermannTyton, the UK cable accessories maker, has signed a €230m five year revolving credit facility to refinance its bonds and an €80m undrawn revolver.

Yorkshire Building Society will hit the road next week to sound out investors for its debut senior unsecured benchmark — a boost for the market at a time when UK supply and senior supply in general are lacking.

Multi-billion euro tobacco bonds are rare, but this week has produced two in as many days. They nearly came on the same day, but Imperial Tobacco decided discretion was the better part of valour yesterday when Philip Morris International got into the market ahead of it, before 8am London time.

Blog caught enough of last week’s Brit Awards to see James Corden introduce Beyoncé and then embarrass himself after her performance by gushing about his proximity to such celebrity. Then we saw Katy Perry do an awful impression of an English accent, presumably modelled on erstwhile husband Russell Brand. But who was covering the awards for the banking community?

Corporate bond issuance is set to get busier again in Europe next week, bankers say, with a drive-by deal also possible on Friday.

Covered bond spreads are so tight that there is almost no scope for secondary performance, bankers have warned. “Core markets are in a zone of low oxygen,” one said on Tuesday, as KBC Bank priced a deal within a few basis points of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Deutsche Kreditbank.

The covered bond primary market lived up to supply expectations this week with five issuers tapping the market in the first two days of the week. BNP Paribas stood out, showing the strength of its brand, and the market, by pricing the tightest French covered bond deal of the year.