European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD

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Public sector borrowers hit new mid-swap spread tights for the year in dollars this week, but despite the enviable pricing on offer, bankers said that the currency was not offering the kind of super strong conditions that had been on offer last year. That might play in the mind of issuers lining up deals for next week — which is expected to be busy — with bankers saying borrowers might need to offer a little more concession than they have been used to.

Yapi Kredi has privately placed Turkish mortgage backed covered bonds to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Clean Technology Fund (CTF) to promote energy saving improvements in the financial sector.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development set a new pricing bar for 2018 in five year dollars on Wednesday as it equalled its largest ever dollar benchmark size. Municipality Finance was also out in the same tenor, with a trade that leads said had a concession of 2bp-3bp.

FMS Wertmanagement on Tuesday took advantage of widening swap spreads to equal the tightest spread to mid-swaps on a five year benchmark so far this year — a level that was “very tight” to KfW, said bankers on the trade. Two other borrowers are lining up to try their luck in the tenor — including one that is aiming for an even tighter spread.

The Turkish lira’s value has been battered by a chaotic political and economic backdrop but, with yields at their highest level since 2007, some MTN investors are opting to take the plunge.

The nascent social bond market is keeping the primary public sector debt market ticking over as the end of the year approaches. Demand for the new asset class is swelling, and investors are beginning to make their preferences known.

This week's scorecard looks at the funding progress various supranationals have made in their programmes as the end of the year approaches.

Piraeus Bank will privately place a €500m five year covered bond to three supranational agencies in order to support €700m of new lending to small and medium sized companies across Greece.

Public sector borrowers this week smashed through their conventional curves with green bond issues. But there was some debate over whether this marks the start of a trend or is merely the product of scorching conditions in both the euro and dollar markets.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on Thursday rounded out a busy week for green bond issuance with yet another deal that was covered before books officially opened.

KfW has punched through its conventional curve with a dollar green bond that left bankers away from the trade a similar colour of envy. More SRI supply is on the way, after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development hit screens for Thursday’s business.