Banks

Shares in Deutsche Bank, the largest bank in Germany, fell as much as 4.5% on Thursday after reports that it is considering raising fresh equity capital to finance its potential merger with Commerzbank, two years after its last €8bn rights issue.

The French bank is continuing to execute its plan to become Europe’s leading corporate finance house, despite headwinds and looming consolidation, writes David Rothnie.

The European leveraged finance market is heating up, as long-awaited deals for the buyouts of UK plastics company RPC and German online listings firm Scout24 break cover. The two chunky deals will deliver much needed new money supply after a sluggish start to the year.

SNCF Réseau reopened its December 2047 green bonds for a €250m tap on Thursday, with the issuer bumping up the liquidity of its long dated debt.

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has hit Goldman Sachs with a £34.3m fine for misreporting transactions.

Goldman Sachs this week completed a €612m delta placement of shares in Hochtief, the German construction company, to hedge itself after providing a funded collar transaction to Atlantia.

Sean Tai, founder of Debtdomain, spoke exclusively to GlobalCapital to discuss digital platforms in the Schuldschein market: their future, barriers to entry, the risk of fragmentation — and the possibility that Debtdomain's functionality could broaden.

State oil company Saudi Aramco is expected to tap the bond market in the next fortnight for a deal that could be anywhere in the region of $7bn-$15bn, according to bankers in the region away from the deal. Estimates of the premium Aramco will have to pay over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia curve is being discussed as negative to plus 15bp, depending on the size of the deal.

Swedbank has removed its CEO and president, Birgitte Bonnesen, as revelations about potential money laundering at the Swedish bank exploded in recent days.

Issuance of Italian bank debt in 2019 has nearly caught up with last year’s running total. Banca Popolare di Sondrio this week followed Mediobanca and UniCredit into the market to cap off a big week of supply by the nation’s lenders. The run could yet extend further, with UBI Banca gearing up for a debut green bond.

India’s Metropolis Healthcare has set the terms for its Rp12bn ($174.5m) IPO and is preparing to launch book building next week, according to a term sheet seen by GlobalCapital Asia.

Chinese online travel agent Ctrip.com International has launched its first offshore deal, for €600m, two years after raising a larger onshore facility.