Europe's Corporate Bond Market Shows Muted Signs of Revival
21 March 2020 - 6:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Anna Isaac and Anna Hirtenstein
Europe's bond market proved it remains open for blue-chip
companies -- amid the global rout in other sectors -- after
consumer-goods giant Unilever PLC and French energy producer Engie
SA sold about EUR4.5 billion ($4.8 billion) in bonds.
The two businesses were the only companies to successfully tap
the region's debt markets this week, according to data from
Dealogic.
The deals are also "a sign that people can work with capital
markets while sitting at their kitchen table," Tomas Lundquist, a
managing director at Citigroup who helped arrange the deals, said
in an interview.
Europe's debt markets haven't shut down completely, even as
investors have shunned global stocks, bonds and commodities in
recent weeks. Deal making had slowed to a trickle, with only the
most creditworthy companies finding buyers. Junk-rated companies,
on the other hand, have been virtually closed out of the market as
investors sold off even the safest assets and sought to hold
cash.
Last week, French food products company Danone raised EUR800
million, while German trainline Deutsche Bahn tapped the bond
market for EUR150 million, according to Dealogic.
This week, Unilever raised about EUR2 billion from five-year and
10-year bonds, while Engie issued EUR2.5 billion of five-, eight-
and 12-year bonds, according to Citigroup. The bonds were priced on
Friday. Unilever is rated A1 by Moody's Investors Service, while
Engie has an A3 credit rating.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 20, 2020 15:10 ET (19:10 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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