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Mizuho Financial Group will be looking to time the sale of a new senior deal very carefully this week, with euro market conditions still proving challenging for issuers.

Volvo Car, the Swedish manufacturer owned by China’s Geely Holding, sold a debut green bond this week, days after saying its freshly published green finance framework would help it transform into an electric car maker.

Turbulent conditions forced several banks to delay bond issuance plans this week, and one even pulled a transaction after launch. Deal flow is likely to pick up again soon, but the cost of funding is certain to be higher, writes Tyler Davies.

Take-up was higher than expected for the European Central Bank’s latest series of Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations on Thursday. But an overall allotment of €174bn still paled in comparison with the last round, as banks showed they already had plenty of excess liquidity on their balance sheets.

AIB Group's new euro tier two capital issue, its first green bond, was comfortably subscribed on Wednesday, lifting confidence in the bank debt market after a difficult start to the week.

India’s Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has returned to the loan market after an absence of more than 10 years. It is seeking a $175m deal.

Commodities company Mercuria has returned for its annual borrowing of $980m. This time, it is enticing banks with a 10bp Covid-19 premium on the loan margin and fees.

Rating: Aa3/A/A+

Guarantor: Federal Republic of Germany

Banks and insurance companies were falling over one another to issue green bonds this week, with deal arrangers seeing ESG labels as near infallible ways of bringing pricing through fair value, write Tyler Davies and David Freitas.

Rentenbank made an impressive entry to the green benchmark bond market this week with its biggest ever order book in euros by overall size and number of accounts. Head of funding Leopold Olma, who has spent 20 years with the German development agency’s funding team, called it the “ultimate transaction”.

Dutch DIY group Maxeda launched a refinancing this week which pushed up its rating, after it took out its 2022s with new 2026 bonds, taking any liquidity constraints for the triple-C rated chain firmly off the table. Despite the pandemic, the retailer has been successfully deleveraging, helped by a boom in home improvements during lockdown.