Banks

The loan backing the €5.8bn takeover of Versum Materials by German pharmaceutical firm Merck launched into syndication on Wednesday. Three banks are leading the financing. Versum is the former electronic materials division of Air Products & Chemicals, which was spun off in 2016.

Jefferies is nearing the completion of its EM sales and trading team started 2.5 years ago, with two more hires in London.

Barclays has wasted little time in accessing the debt markets after publishing first quarter results, selling senior bonds out of its holding company in both dollars and sterling this week.

Walter Ahlström is joining Swedbank as its new head of corporate finance in Finland, as part of its strategy to grow its equity capital markets business and team. He is joining from Carnegie, where he had worked in Finnish ECM. He had been there for nearly four years.

Telecoms giant Altice announced a €2.8bn-equivalent dual currency high yield bond on Tuesday through Goldman Sachs. Along with the proceeds of the new notes, the group will spend €1.5bn to cut group leverage — a crucial move, as telecoms firms grapple with the high capital costs of preparing for the rollout of 5G technology.

Greg Guyett has shaken up the management of HSBC’s global banking division in a move aimed at streamlining coverage and boosting collaboration across divisions and products.

More than half of Santander’s profits came from Latin America and the US in the last quarter, amid a plan to make savings in Europe and expand across the Atlantic.

European Investment Bank slipped into the sterling market on Tuesday to tap its December 2023 notes for another £350m, as issuers continue to push through deals in the currency while the going is good.

Groupe PSA, the French car maker, has sold more than €500m of Schuldscheine, as a flurry of French firms find fortune in the market.

Anadarko Petroleum has opened talks with potential suitor Occidental Petroleum, leaving bankers gobsmacked and potentially costing the US shale oil company $1bn if it cancels its acquisition by Chevron.

The head of FIG origination and syndication at NordLB has resigned and is understood to be heading for Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba), where he will have an expanded role.

The arrangers of Reliance Industries’ debut Schuldschein have sent investors a statement saying that though the oversubscribed order books closed on Monday, they have extended the timetable for settlement to allow some investors “additional time to firm up their orders”.