Private placements to the fore as public primary dries up

摘要

Torrid conditions pushed blue-chip corporates to turn to private placements in January as elevated premiums dampened public issuance in what is normally one of the sector's busiest months. January is typically a busy time for the public corporate market as investors have plenty of cash to put to work, allowing corporates to raise billions at attractive levels. However, European investment-grade corporate issuance suffered the worst start in 16 years, hurt by choppy equity markets and oil price volatility. Borrowers looking to avoid execution risk and crystallising wider costs of funding publicly have instead turned to the private placement market. bmw, which was rumoured to be looking at a public trade in January, instead issued over €1.2bn across 13 privately placed deals to achieve cheaper pricing.