Loans and High Yield

Four bond issuers from Greater China followed the Chinese ministry of finance into the dollar market on Wednesday, snapping up $1.4bn between them.

Barclays and Citi have begun syndication of the loan backing Adevinta’s purchase of eBay Classifieds, one of the largest EMEA M&A deals agreed this summer. The banks are marketing €1.33bn of term loans, with a bond deal to follow shortly.

Barclays has hired Gauthier Le Milon as head of M&A for France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The coronavirus crisis will continue to lead to divergence in economic fortunes, and that will play out in European capital markets as well.

Pre-pandemic, mid-market private equity firm CapVest was gearing up to sell its portfolio company Curium, in a €3bn auction which attracted interest from CVC, Bain and Nordic Capital. Covid collapsed the sale process, prompting a plan B for the asset — sell it to themselves.

For CMA CGM, a French shipping company, the pandemic came in the nick of time. The group was struggling with debt maturities and dwindling liquidity in late 2019, but abundant state aid funding has allowed it to shore up its balance sheet return to market this week to refinance its 2021s.

JSW Steel sold a $500m bond on Monday, but the issuer paid some 30bp of premium to close the trade.

Sina Corp, a Chinese internet firm that owns social media platform Weibo, is seeking a $2.08bn borrowing from onshore and offshore borrowers. It plans to use the money to delist from the Nasdaq.

Three high yield Chinese property issuers turned to the offshore bond market on Monday, raising $950m between them.

Canpack, a Poland-based packaging company, is making its debut in the euro and dollar high yield market this week, as it seeks to shake off the constraints of its private placement-based capital structure and prepare for expansion in the US.

Large deals and fundraising from a clutch of elite direct lenders, alongside high profile tie-ups with sovereign wealth funds, have prompted many to characterise direct lending as enjoying a golden age. But the success of some funds looks set to come at the expense of many others, writes Silas Brown.

Germany is set to implement a total revamp of its corporate restructuring rules from next year, with a draft bill overhauling a court-led regime more than 25 years old and replacing it with rules law firm Kirkland & Ellis called ‘best practice’.