Bank of America

A big step in restoring Italy's banking sector to health was taken successfully this week, when the fifth biggest EMEA equity sale ever raised €13bn for UniCredit.

The superlatives “fantastic”, “surprising to the upside all the time” and “huge tightening” were being thrown around about the public sector dollar market this week — the only missing ingredient appears to be supply.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank on Thursday brought the solitary SSA dollar deal of the week, taking advantage of “fantastic” conditions to raise $1bn of five year cash.

Rocket Internet, the German internet venture capital group, closed 14% lower on Thursday after Kinnevik, the Swedish investment company that was one of its earliest backers, sold half its stake through an accelerated bookbuild after the stock had rallied over the past three months.

Finnish technology company Nokia is set to become the first European company to issue a euro high yield bond for four weeks. Meanwhile, UK food producer Bakkavor will repay all its notes.

Jeanswear maker Levi Strauss priced on Thursday a new refinancing deal in euros, having been absent from the European high yield bond market for seven years.

US pharma research firm Quintiles IMS Holdings printed on Thursday a new €1.4bn high yield bond, proving that European high yield investors are embracing the train of US issuers printing in euros.

China Reading, the e-book publisher backed by Tencent Holdings, has picked Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley to lead its Hong Kong IPO, according to a source close to the matter.

This evening, Kinnevik, the Swedish investment company, is selling a 6.6% stake in Rocket Internet, the German e-commerce startup investor, through an accelerated bookbuild.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank is set to bring the five year part of the dollar curve back to life for the first time in three weeks, after mandating banks for a March 2022 Reg S/144A deal on Wednesday.

Yapi Kredi reopened the Turkish financial bond market on Tuesday, garnering a $1.2bn book that was sticky enough to allow the issuer to tighten pricing 37.5bp — good news for the $3.7bn worth of Turkish financial senior bonds that will need refinancing this year.

Korea Development Bank (KDB) has become the latest name from South Korea to join the debt issuance party, sealing a triple tranche offering with two floating rate tranches, and finding $4bn of demand for its deal.