Commerzbank

KBC Group made use on Tuesday of strong investor appetite for green bonds, launching a callable senior deal with a negative new issue concession.

The coronavirus crisis may have hit overall covered bond supply prospects, but it has provided a silver lining for some banks — such as Credit Suisse, ING and Commerzbank which have all fared well in the covered bond league tables this year.

The corporate bond market made a promising start to the week with oil company OMV’s dual tranche bonds and Deutsche Börse’s hybrid trade commanding sizeable books and big price moves, which bodes well for the spate of mandates that have landed on investors’ screens.

Hella, the German car parts maker, has signed a €500m syndicated revolving credit facility, as lenders highlight the sector as one of the most likely to feel long-term economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

La Banque Postale and Société Générale took advantage of favourable conditions in the financial institutions bond market on Monday to launch non-preferred senior deals in euros and make progress towards completing their 2020 funding plans.

Three European companies, one of them a high yield issuer, jumped into the corporate bond market on Friday, the first to test the waters after the European Central Bank's promise the previous day to top them up with another €600bn of liquidity through its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp). They found overwhelming demand, leading to fast sales, an increase and deeply negative new issue premiums.

Deal arrangers said on Monday that banks would not be dissuaded from bringing new bond deals to the market, though spread levels have started showing their first signs of weakness following an extraordinarily strong month in May.

Poland’s mBank has announced a tender offer for a maximum of €400m of its bonds, as it seeks to manage its MREL requirements.

Severn Trent, the UK water utility, achieved blowout demand on Tuesday for its sustainable bond, as bankers say the focus in the high grade market is shifting from crisis mode back to socially responsible debt.

Pfizer was at its opportunistic best this week as it issued $4bn of notes that included the lowest ever coupon on a corporate five year bond.

Turkey’s Garanti Bank has raised a $592.4m-equivalent ESG-linked syndicated loan — the first of its kind signed by a bank. The deal, despite being launched at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, went successfully, according to bankers, following a string of refinancings by other Turkish banks.

The high grade corporate bond market saw chunky books on Tuesday, but there are concerns from some corners of the market that primary issuance is showing “serious signs of fatigue”.