Europe’s Debt Market Roars Back
Europe’s Debt Market Roars Back
(Bloomberg) --
Europe’s corporate funding market enjoyed its busiest day for nearly three years, as nearly two-dozen borrowers shrugged off mounting Middle East tensions to raise more than 27 billion euros ($30 billion) of new cash.
Dutch lender ABN Amro Bank NV, Germany’s KfW and French bank BPCE SA offered the biggest deals of the day, joined by U.S. foods giant General Mills Inc. and the year’s first syndicated euro sovereign offerings from Slovenia and Indonesia. Issuers have pressed ahead with sales as global stocks see-sawed, keen to lock in ultra-low borrowing costs ahead of other potential risks also including Brexit.
“Heightened uncertainty is clearly there, but I think issuers are taking a deep breath and going ahead,” said Per Jensen, a financial origination banker at Danske Bank A/S. “Accounts have cash and high-grade names are where most investors are happy to put funds to work.”
Five covered bonds are among the deals offered in the market’s busiest day since May 2017, as investors dial down concerns about the Middle East following the U.S. killing of Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani last week. Issuers may also be keen to lock in ultra-low borrowing costs ahead of potential risks also including Brexit, with Renault’s RCI Banque SA and FreseniusSE & Co KGaA active in the corporate space.
See table for a list of some of the day’s biggest offerings:
| Issuer | Deal size | Format/structure |
|---|---|---|
| KfW | EU5b | Senior unsecured |
| BPCE | EU2b | Senior preferred, two-part offering |
| ABN Amro | EU2b | Covered bond |
| Allianz | EU1.25b | Senior unsecured, two-part offering |
| Bank of Nova Scotia | EU1.5b | Covered bond |
| Slovenia | EU1.5b | |
| LBBW | EU750m | Covered bond |
| General Mills | Expected EU500m | Senior unsecured |
| Credit Agricole | EU1.25b | Senior non-preferred |
| Credit Suisse | EU1.25b | Senior unsecured |
| Indonesia | EU1b | Senior unsecured |
Tuesday’s mammoth deal list far surpasses the 13 names in the market on the equivalent day of 2019. Last year’s flurry was part of the busiest week of 2019, with 79 billion euros of marketwide sales, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Euro investment-grade borrowing costs are now about 0.45%, based on Bloomberg Barclays index data.
“Stabilizing sentiment should see issuers rush to the primary market,“ Commerzbank AG analysts told clients in a note published ahead of the market opening. They added that the first full week of January has accounted for almost half the month’s issuance in the last three years and “issuers should also be keen to return to the market early this year.”
Global markets were briefly roiled before the European open Tuesday morning when an Iranian news agency said the country is assessing scenarios for its response to the U.S. killing of a military leader.
--With assistance from Paul Cohen.
To contact the reporters on this story: Hannah Benjamin in London at hbenjamin1@bloomberg.net;Alice Gledhill in London at agledhill@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Neil Denslow
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