Deals
High-Yield Bond Sales Stumble in Europe and May Fall Further
- Corporate issuance in Europe is down after a bumper 2017
- Investors expect fall in opportunistic sales, shift to loans
This article is for subscribers only.
For leveraged borrowers hoping to tap the European bond market, February is proving to be the cruelest month. Sales of high-yield debt are falling fast -- and some investors expect the slowdown to continue.
Non-financial corporates have priced 7.1 billion euros-equivalent ($8.9 billion) of speculative-grade notes since the start of 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, a 38 percent drop from the same period last year. The drop off follows a bumper year in 2017, which saw record corporate sales as rock-bottom interest rates fueled demand.