(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s debt market is picking up where the US left off, with a debt sales rebound as borrowers seize on funding costs that are near a three-year low.
BPER Banca SpA, Coca Cola HBC Finance BV, Stellantis NV and US companies including elevator maker Otis Worldwide Corp. are among 15 borrowers set to price new debt deals in the region on Wednesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the most number of issuers in one day since Sept. 25, when 19 borrowers tapped the market.
It follows an active day in the US on Tuesday, when 13 high-grade issuers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sold debt in the region’s busiest session since Sept. 4, which also featured 19 transactions. Borrowers globally are seizing on falling borrowing costs following a market rally since the US presidential election result, with spreads on euro-denominated high-grade bonds easing to 99 basis points. That’s the tightest since January 2022, Bloomberg index data show.
That’s luring a broad crop of borrowers to get deals done now before yields potentially start turning higher, with President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff policies and tax cut plans likely to prove a trigger for inflation. Investors are also keen to put cash to work, with bids on the bonds issued in Europe since the election averaging more than 3.5 times the amount on offer, Bloomberg data show.
“Issuers saw good receipt on the first go-ers after the election and felt that the window has improved,” said Shanawaz Bhimji, head of credit strategy at ABN Amro Bank NV. “We see this healthy environment to continue well into next year, also helped by the gradual loosening policy from the major central banks.”
Maserati and Jeep maker Stellantis is following Volkswagen AG in to the market with a dual-tranche euro offering as Europe’s automakers continue to navigate tough times, with multiple profit warnings across the sector and concerns that some will be left behind in the electric vehicle transition.
Stellantis is marketing notes due in four and seven years at spreads of about 130 and 180 basis points above midswaps respectively, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. That’s a 30-basis-point tightening on both tranches from initial pricing levels as investors poured in more than €6.7 billion of combined bids for the notes.
Financial companies in particular have been active this week, with BPER Banca raising Additional Tier 1 notes, the riskiest type of bank debt, Commerzbank AG offering Tier 2 debt and its potential suitor UniCredit SpA offering euro, senior-preferred notes.
“Tight spreads continue to lure issuers to the market for some opportunistic (pre) funding,” Rabobank’s senior financials analyst Cas Bonsema wrote in a note this morning. He said Tuesday’s deals from the likes of Danske Bank A/S and the National Bank of Greece were subject to strong demand “despite the lack of any concessions to sway investors to participate.”
And borrowers from the US are also getting in on the action in Europe, with euro currency deals from Equinix Inc., Otis Worldwide and Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. all set to price on Wednesday. Otis Worldwide is seeking to raise euro notes due in three years after pricing $600 million of seven-year debt in the US market on Tuesday. The company gets nearly three-quarters of its revenue from outside of the US, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
It follows a rush of yankee bank deals in the US, with HSBC Holdings Plc, Westpac Banking Corp and Societe Generale SA all raising dollar debt in recent days.
--With assistance from Will Kubzansky.
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