Loans and High Yield

Several Schuldschein issuers have more than tripled their initial targets for deals, with arrangers saying many have gone subject just days after launch. The deal outcomes show a chronic supply and demand imbalance, as the market comes to terms with a persistent drop in deal flow.

Oriental Petrochemical (Taiwan) Co, a subsidiary of conglomerate Far Eastern Group, is planning a return to the loan market for a dual currency borrowing that will include a dollar portion for the first time.

PizzaExpress is looking to raise sterling bonds to refinance its capital structure, after bondholders took control of it last year from Chinese private equity group Hony Capital.

Indian company Tata Steel has returned to the loan market. It is in talks with banks for a £200m ($276m) financing to support its UK business.

Asia's investment grade bond market is off to a busy start for the week, while pressure on the high yield sector continues to keep borrowers at bay.

Only HSBC and RBC Capital Markets are underwriting Fortress’s £9.5bn bid to take UK supermarket chain Morrisons private, while only Morgan Stanley is advising Apollo on its potential rival bid. This leaves plenty of scope for other banks to team up with sponsors to make rival offers.

SoftBank returned to euro and dollar bond markets after a three year absence to issue an eight tranche deal, raising more than $7bn-equivalent from total demand of more than $16bn, and hitting every empty spot in its funding curve at once.

In a report on the state of UK private credit, Pemberton predicts further concentration in direct lending, as borrowers opt for established players over upstart funds.

Natasha Harrison, the heir apparent to fabled law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, told GlobalCapital that while she was not expecting a collapse in corporate credit coming out of the coronavirus, there will be big opportunities for sophisticated distressed debt investors.

BNP Paribas has retained its place at the top of the EMEA loan league table for the first half of 2021, but its market share is much smaller than for the same period last year.

West China Cement returned to the bond market this week after an absence of nearly seven years to raise $600m.

Four Chinese local government financing vehicles courted dollar investors on Tuesday, raising $870m between them.