Strong weekly issuance beat expectations: EUR10.55bn was issued in the IG corporate bond market this week (Monday-Wednesday only), exceeding the average EUR8.5bn forecast and marking the fourth consecutive week above estimates.

• Issuers paid higher premiums for smooth execution: Average new issue concession (NIC) rose to 7.29bps from 5.36bps last week, reflecting a more cautious approach after heavy year-to-date supply, though this helped maintain investor appetite with deals covered 3.07x on average
• ESG bonds remained dominant: Ethical trades accounted for EUR4.9bn (46.5%) of this week's IG corporate issuance, continuing a strong trend that saw ESG paper represent 28% of June's EUR49.2bn monthly total
• Notable debut and multi-tranche deals: Honda Motor Co made its euro debut with a well-received EUR2.5bn three-tranche offering (attracting EUR10.4bn peak demand), while Vonovia led Monday's activity with a EUR2bn three-part social/green/vanilla transaction
• Year-to-date issuance significantly ahead of 2025: Euro corporate issuance (ex-HY) now stands at EUR270.39bn, over 11% higher than the EUR242.7bn recorded at this point last year, with bankers forecasting EUR10.5bn for next week before the traditional summer slowdown begins around Bastille Day

Summary of this week’s EUR IG/split-rated corporate trades:

Another beat on the estimate

The IG corporate bond market saw another busy week this week with issuers continuing to make funding plays as the delicate US-Iran peace deal held, continuing to support lower oil prices and easing inflation fears.

On the latter, there was also some relief this week, with the headline eurozone Jun CPI figure at 2.8% YoY coming in 20bp below consensus and 40bp lower than May's Iran-War and multi-year peak. The core was 2.4%, -10bp versus the forecast and 20bp lower than last time.

Tech stocks endured a rocky week amid renewed concerns over elevated AI-related valuations, but overall, the backdrop was stable and that ensured the primary bond market was open for business.

Key US payrolls data on Thursday, a day earlier than usual on account of Friday’s Independence Day holiday (in lieu), provided a distraction which issuers chose to avoid, in turn meaning all this week’s supply came between Monday and Wednesday.

Despite the narrowed window, another EUR10.55bn was issued, meaning we beat the average EUR8.5bn estimate put forward in our issuance poll and got closer to the higher EUR12bn forecast. That was the fourth week in a row which we saw more than the average forecast for supply.

IG corporates were a key driver in this week’s primary bond activity as a whole, where the sector accounted for 16 of the overall 34 single currency IG tranches to price, and 48% of the total EUR21.95bn volume.

Ethical trades were once again prominent in the IG corporate market this week, with them speaking for EUR4.9bn of the asset class’s total, or 46.5%.

Signs of indigestion?

All this week’s issuers got their deals away without a hitch, but it was noticeable that issuers left more in the way of a premium on the table to ensure smooth execution after such a glut of supply so far this year.

The average NIC paid crept up for a second straight week to 7.29bps (5.36bps last week, 1.64bps the week before), with the more pragmatic approach paying off.

That ensured that investors largely stayed on board through the execution process, with the transactions covered an average 3.07x at the reoffer spreads, bouncing back from last week’s 2.54x which marked the lowest average weekly cover ratio of 2026 so far.

Combined demand finished up at EUR32bn from an earlier peak of EUR36.2bn, with the deals seeing an average attrition rate of 12.58%, down from the previous week’s 26.4% drop from peak to final books.

For the full report click here: 03Jul2026_CorpWeekly.pdf