CORP SNAPSHOT: Market gets a well-deserved breather

The European IG corporate market is taking a well-deserved breather on Thursday with much of the continent observing the Labour/May Day holiday.

That gives us chance to absorb the huge EUR21.325bn of single currency corp (ex-HY) paper to have printed Monday to Wednesday, which has made it the sector’s biggest volume week since w/e 17-May-2024 (EUR24.15bn).

It also means we have seen more than double the volume price in the first three days of this week than we had in the rest of April altogether, with monthly supply, as of Friday, standing at just EUR9.15bn.

All in that means the euro IG/split-rated corporate April issuance total finished up at EUR30.475bn to make it the third biggest April on record for the asset class, having only been beaten by 2016’s EUR31.45bn and 2020’s EUR64.1bn.

The latter remains the biggest month ever for supply and came as issuers rushed to the market to plug earnings gaps amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Source: IGM

The sheer volumes this week have come as a surprise to all, it seems, with the average supply estimate for the week having come in at what now looks like a very conservative EUR8.5bn.

Even the most optimistic of participants in our weekly issuance poll had only expected as much as EUR12.5bn to cross the tape, with them saying that they had expected reverse yankee issuance to have dominated.

That indeed was the case, but even more US issuers crossed The Atlantic than was expected, with this week’s reverse yankee total standing at EUR12.925bn (13 tranches) from four different issuers.

The latest US name to hit the market was financial services giant Visa Inc, which made its second ever visit to the euro market and raised EUR3.5bn in what was the sector’s fourth largest euro corp trade of 2025.

Visa’s multi-trancher was made up of EUR1.25bn 3yr, EUR1bn 8yr, EUR650m 12yr and EUR600m 19yr deals which attracted combined peak demand of EUR12.8bn, with the shortest line accounting for the lion’s share of that at EUR5.7bn.

The borrower did see a fair bit of sensitivity in the books, though, with orders last communicated at EUR7.55bn after pricing was ramped in 30-42bps from IPTs to land with minimal NICs.

Visa came after US peer Alphabet on Tuesday printed a EUR6.75bn five-part in what was the largest EUR corp offering since Feb 2020.

Joining Visa in the euro market on Wednesday there was another multi-tranche transaction from French utility Electricite de France SA which refreshed its well-stocked euro curve with a EUR750m 7yr, EUR1bn 12yr and EUR500m 20yr three-part green.

All three bonds landed 30bps inside initial talk and with final 5bp NICs, having attracted peak investor interest of EUR7bn.

Again, there was some paring back of orders from investors, with final demand communicated at EUR4.9bn combined.

Summary of Wednesday's EUR IG corp deals:

Performance tracker of recent EUR IG/split-rated benchmark deals

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