Bank of America

Talos Capital has sold a €191.4m stake in Aena SME, the Spanish airport operator, capping off the biggest week for equity block trades in Europe this year.

Total, the French oil company, achieved a flat new issue concession on its €1.5bn hybrid bond on Wednesday, according to bankers away from the deal, as investors swarmed into the book in search of yield.

Vodafone launched and priced on Thursday a $2bn hybrid capital issue, to gain some more equity credit in the eyes of the rating agencies. The deal follows Moody’s decision on Monday to give no equity credit to Vodafone’s £3.4bn mandatorily convertible bond, issued on March 5.

Chinese streaming platform iQiyi, which is backed by internet giant Baidu, tapped the equity-linked market this week with a record-breaking deal — the largest American Depository Shares (ADS) convertible bond — and could help boost issuance in the asset class. Jonathan Breen reports.

Klabin, the Brazilian pulp and paper company, returned to bond markets on Wednesday, taking advantage of a flattening yield curve to issue its first long bond, despite a bad day for Brazilian assets.

Total, the French oil company, issued a €1.5bn hybrid capital bond on Wednesday, at the same time as launching a tender offer to buy back some of its €2.5bn call February 2021 and €1.75bn call May 2022 hybrids.

Akbank has closed an oversubscribed loan, welcoming eight new banks to its syndicate and kickstarting the refinancing season for Turkish banks. The deal was signed amid increasing market uncertainty in Turkey, with the lira having weakened and uncertainty surrounding local elections this weekend.

Chinese streaming platform iQiyi bagged $1.05bn on Tuesday after tapping the equity-linked bond market for a second time, pricing the deal at the issuer-friendly end of guidance.

Holders of Inmarsat’s 6.5% 2024 high yield notes are recommended to take profits, as the board of the UK-listed satellite company recommended an LBO offer from a consortium of investors. Barclays, Bank of America, and UBS are arranging a $3.625bn term loan and a $600m-equivalent multicurrency revolver to fund the deal.

Nasdaq-listed video streaming platform iQiyi has returned for a second time to the equity-linked market, having launched a one-day bookbuild on Tuesday for a convertible bond that could reach $1.05bn.

Investors looking at the multi-billion euro listing of Italian payments company Nexi are largely comfortable with the country’s political environment, focusing more on whether its private equity sellers will seek too high a price.

Banks have pumped $1.9tr into fossil fuel financing since the Paris Agreement was signed, according to a new report. This is despite the widespread push from investors and shareholders for a greener approach to funding business.