David Hayes

* Reuters is reporting that Elliott - the activist investor - has taken a stake in Air Liquide. * Elliott is said to have been engaging with the company for months and is pushing for margin improvements. * The size of the stake is unknown.

* IPT: 500m WNG 6yr 6.25% area (ms+295) * FV: we see 5.85% to give ms+255 45bps wide to NIMMOH 31s is consistent with AOXGR curve. * Note the 400m Tender on the two 2028 notes.

Twice a month, the confines of Building C at the Polk County Fairgrounds are lined with tables, filled with nick knacks, collectibles and useful items. It's Paull Thompson's job to make sure the thousands of items in his inventory leave the building each time.

The cities of Monmouth and Independence are brokering an interlocal partnership with Western Oregon University to keep the popular MI Trolley operating well into the future.

* Final: 500m 5yr ms+100 * Books >1.35bn (from 1.45bn at final) * IPT: EUR 500m WNG 5yr ms+130-135 * FV: ms+95

Spreads were 7bps wider on average over the week. XO largely recovered from the mid-week highs which may set up next week for a solid performance. * KPN tendered for its 6% Call27 and issued a new 500m NC5.25. We saw fair value at 4.70% - between Vodafone and Verizon. The deal priced at 4.75% and is now screening 4.64%. The tendered bond has a 75% threshold for a clean-up call with the risk of 2.6pts of downside. Deadline is 8th September. * Volkswagen rallied 20-40c on Friday after an agreement was reached on the future direction of the company. The senior curve was 1bp tighter on average. On the week, VW was unchanged in spread. * Stellantis is still recovering from last month's underperformance. Bonds were up 30-70c on the week.

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One of the Monmouth Senior Community Center's meeting rooms had a long, white wall in need of some art, anything, to break up the monotony.

By David Hayes I-O Editor Joe Shinkle has a confession. He admits to living a double life.

* NZP decided NOT to proceed with yesterday's bond issue. * The main red flag in the deal was the amount of Secured Debt which was due in 2027. * EUR 462.5m of secured loans (mainly from LBBW) mature in Mar 2027 with only a vague agreement to roll-over. * Given the growth ambitions of the company we would not be surprised to see them return to the market but with a more acceptable balance sheet and/or covenants.