Commerzbank

Any impression that the European corporate bond market was returning to more measured levels of activity was zapped on Tuesday, when five new issues were launched that had to squeeze more than €35bn of bids into just €6.25bn of paper.

US companies Amphenol Technologies and Air Products and Chemicals have mandated banks for euro bond issues, as bankers expect Reverse Yankee issuance to rise after a spell of record-breaking volume in the dollar market.

Kookmin Bank has become the first issuer from South Korea to sell an international public bond to combat the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. While virus-response deals are still just a tiny part of Asia’s debt market, bankers say it is set to grow.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond market faced one of its biggest tests on Wednesday, with France’s Auchan, which operates in the heavily disrupted retail sector, getting a deal away with one of the larger new issue concessions seen in recent weeks.

Italian-American car company Fiat Chrysler has drawn down on its €6.25bn revolving credit facility to shore up its finances during the Covid-19 pandemic, though the company has left a new bridge loan untouched.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) hit the market for dollar paper on Tuesday, with the Manila-based supra going for five years and the French agency opting for three years.

Tesco, the UK grocer, found the queues for its sterling bond issue on Monday were almost as long as those for its toilet roll. Pent-up demand for sterling debt meant its £450m trade was more than eight times oversubscribed and priced through higher rated comparable debt.

Greece did not attract the huge reception from investors that it has grown used to over the last few years, despite paying a considerable new issue premium and being eligible for the European Central Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP).

Greece is looking to become the latest eurozone sovereign to sell a seven year syndicated bond, after mandating banks on Tuesday for the transaction.

Rating agency Fitch says that the bleak economic outlook has exposed many of Germany’s banks’ weaknesses, prompting it to take action on the ratings of many of them. Deutsche Bank could become one of Europe’s banks most affected by the recession.

Fashion retailer H&M has signed a €980m revolving credit facility to sit alongside its existing main bank line, as the Swedish company becomes the latest to turn to the bank market to bolster its finances during the coronavirus pandemic.

Infrequent issuers are slowly returning to the Swiss franc market. During the past week, Eurofima brought its first Swissies deal in six years, while biotech firm Lonza printed its first bond in any currency since 2017.