CORP SNAPSHOT: Predictable Monday blank ahead of expected uptick

IG corporate issuers are staying away from the primary bond market as expected at the start of the week amid the public holidays in parts of Europe (Armistice Day) and the US (Veterans Day).

Monday’s blank comes after activity last week was limited to a single line from French certification company Bureau Veritas which jumped in Thursday to reopen the market after the US election.

Its deal went smoothly, but hardly set the world alight and by this year’s standards demand was fairly subdued.

The borrower brought a EUR500m no grow 7yr transaction which started around 35bps back from reoffer, before pricing was tightened 27bps during the execution process on books of EUR1.15bn.

By going last week, Bureau Veritas stole a march on what is expected to be a busy week for issuance this week with some well-flagged key event risk events now in the rear-view mirror.

Contributors to our weekly issuance poll are calling for an average of EUR8.5bn of euro IG corporate paper to cross the tape, with the most pessimistic seeing just EUR2bn being issued and the most optimistic a bumper EUR12.5bn.

If we were to hit the latter, then that would market the sector’s seventh biggest single currency week of the year.

One borrower known to be wanting to go this week is Germany’s KION GROUP which on Friday hired leads for a two-day roadshow starting today ahead of a EUR500m no grow 7yr.

The proceeds will be used for general corporate and financing purposes, including the refinancing of existing debt.

KION currently has just euro publicly issued euro benchmark outstanding in the form of EUR500m 1.625%Sep 2025s launched back in Sep 2020.

In the pipeline

** KION GROUP AG (BBB-/BBB), a leading German manufacturer of forklifts and warehouse equipment as well as supply chain services, automation technology and software solutions, has mandated J.P. Morgan as Sole Global Coordinator and DZ BANK, Helaba, JP Morgan and Santander as Joint Bookrunners to arrange a series of fixed income investor calls 11-12 Nov. A EUR500m no grow 5yr senior unsecured bond offering may follow. The proceeds will be used for general corporate and financing purposes, including the refinancing of existing debt

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

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