Rabobank

The Dutch part of Air France KLM has taken a €3.4bn bailout package from the Dutch government, which some analysts said includes the possibility for the state to increase its holding in the entire group.

Issuers are struggling to obtain the necessary internal approvals to issue covered bonds, given how expensive the instruments are compared to the European Central Bank's Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO III).

Coöperatieve Rabobank launched a 10 year covered bond at a spread of 7bp over mid-swaps this week, leaving a small new issue concession for investors. The deal also underlined the recent recovery of credit spreads amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), the central organisation for Ghana’s cocoa industry, is in the process of raising its annual syndicated loan, but bankers say the borrower is running into difficulty as lenders’ risk appetite weakens.

European banks joined a flurry of US corporates in the dollar bond market this week, capitalising on favourable conditions to issue deals in large sizes and at negative new issue premiums.

Sentiment is deteriorating in the financial institutions bond market amid fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections. Issuers are now expected to take a back seat until credit spreads show more signs of stability.

Weaker trading conditions have done little to shake expectations for a new wave of additional tier one (AT1) supply, writes Tyler Davies, with three banks having reopened the market in emphatic fashion this week, issuing €3.1bn-equivalent of debt into more than €20bn of demand.

UPL Corp broke a month-long absence of Indian issuers in the international debt market, raising $500m from investors.

ABN Amro and Commerzbank have proven that the additional tier one (AT1) market is wide open for business, after they clocked up more than €17bn of combined demand for their two new deals on Monday.

Europe’s investment grade companies added to the workload of a rejuvenated but busy green bond market on Wednesday with deals from Alliander and Prologis. But debt bankers believe that, after weeks of emergency funding in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the coming weeks should bring the return of more run-of-the-mill trades.

Barry Callebaut, the Franco-Belgian chocolate maker now registered in Switzerland, launched a Schuldschein on Tuesday offering investors tenors "upon request" alongside two, five and eight year maturities. Robert Bosch did that too, when it reopened the market last month. This is a feature that arrangers say will increase in a post Covid world.

Deal arrangers said on Monday that banks would not be dissuaded from bringing new bond deals to the market, though spread levels have started showing their first signs of weakness following an extraordinarily strong month in May.