Telekom Austria bonds took a beating on Thursday on news merger talks with its financially stronger peer Swisscom had collapsed, while derivative hedging activity continued to support European corporate bonds.
Telekom Austria's 5.0 percent euro bonds due 2013 widened seven basis points to 62 basis points over government debt by around 1430 GMT after it ended on-off takeover talks with Swisscom, said a bond trader in London.
Austria's privatisation agency, which owns 47 percent of Telekom Austria, crushed the prospects of a multi-billion-euro merger by walking away from talks between the two national carriers amid political opposition at home.
"This is the end of the Swisscom/Telekom Austria saga," Swisscom Chief Executive Jens Alder said.
A takeover by Swisscom would have given a boost to Telekom Austria's credit, traders said. Swisscom does not have any straight bonds outstanding.
"Swisscom is not rated but it is appreciated by the market as a single-A, while Telekom Austria is triple-B," said a trader in London.
In the wider market, the FTSE Euro Corporate Bond Index showed investment-grade corporate bonds in euros yielding an average 49.8 basis points more than similarly dated government bonds at 1510 GMT, 0.5 basis points less on the day. The index earlier hit a new low of 49.2 basis points.
The main focus was on continued heavy activity in collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) - instruments backed by cash flows from other pieces of debt, such as bonds and loans.
Synthetic CDOs allow investors to take a position on a basket of credits through the default swap market.
In order to construct a synthetic CDO the bank arranging it buys credit protection from an investor. The bank then hedges its exposure to the trade by either buying cash bonds or selling a carefully calculated amount of credit protection, balancing the books. This leads to tighter spreads in the cash and credit default swap markets.
"The credit market is really driven by structural activity. Nobody is looking at oil or the stock markets," said a bond trader in London.
An auto trader said, however, that CDO hedging activity had been wrapped up in the morning, and that cash bonds were coming under some pressure as equity markets declined, although the market was generally quiet.
"Stocks are off and there's a bit of selling pressure in the US," he said. "CDO hedges have been completed yesterday and this morning, and now people are on to the next trade."
Auto bonds reversed the tightening seen in the morning.
By 1430 GMT, General Motors Corp's 8.375 percent euro bond due 2033 - one of Europe's most widely traded corporate bonds - was bid at 282 basis points over government bonds.
The level was some three basis points wider than the tightest level achieved during Thursday, but unchanged on the day as a whole.