Coronavirus

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has become the second bank to issue a Covid-19 bond in the euro market following the example set by BBVA in May.

The European Stability Mechanism has decided to proceed with its plans of issuing social bonds to fund its pandemic crisis support package with a framework being developed tied to the International Capital Market Association’s Social Bond Principles.

Casino developer Sands China paid no new issue premium for its $1.5bn bond on Tuesday, despite the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the gaming industry.

Latin American bond bankers were hopeful that Cemex’s blowout bond issue on Tuesday could cajole other issuers into the market after the Mexican cement producer navigated volatile secondary market and a rating downgrade to notch a hefty order on the way to a $1bn seven-year bond.

The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei) is set to price a senior unsecured Formosa bond on Wednesday after tightening price discussions.

One of the silver linings of the coronavirus crisis for the capital markets has been the impressive surge in the growth of the social bond market, which has lagged far behind the development of green finance. While it makes perfect sense for the immediate focus to be on social concerns, it should not be to the detriment of the environmental crisis we also face.

Italy and the European Union will reboot the euro public sector bond market on Wednesday after announcing syndications of new 10 and 15 year bonds, respectively. The deals will come ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday, in which it is widely expected to increase the size of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (Pepp).

For a failing business, the coronavirus pandemic has offered the perfect excuse. With so many well-managed companies forced to close their doors during lockdowns, record unemployment across several countries and a severe global recession on the cards, who can blame a management team or its backers when a corporate is on the edge of collapse?

Deutsche Bank was on target to launch its first ever green bond on Tuesday. Investors were piling into the deal, which was said to have included a healthy premium at the outset.

The reopening of Italian equity capital markets gathered pace on Monday night with two block trades with sellers across Europe expected to take advantage of the market conditions with further trades

The Republic of Hungary made a swift return to bond markets on Tuesday, selling its debut green bond deal just over a month after a €2bn dual tranche trade.

Telepizza bonds sold off by around 30 points on Monday on news that the company had appointed restructuring advisers, available liquidity was sharply lower than the market had expected, and the company needed around €100m of new money to stay in business — slightly less than the €130m dividend it paid last year after KKR took the Spanish pizza chain private.