Banks

Barclays has hired a managing director from Standard Chartered in London to cover fintech clients in EMEA.

The family of Heinz-Herman Thiele, the late German billionaire industrialist, sold over half their stake in Deutsche Lufthansa, the German flag carrier, via an accelerated bookbuild on Thursday night.

The Indian government has raised Rp40bn ($547.4m) from a sell-down of its stake in Axis Bank.

UnitedHealth Group finally sealed its $7bn merger and acquisition-related bond deal after a week-long delay, but it was stung by secondary market volatility as inflation fears remained top of investor minds.

Singapore real estate investment trust Mapletree Industrial Trust has raised S$823.3m ($618.3m) from a sale of new units to fund data centre acquisitions, with the deal receiving a warm welcome from investors despite not being very well flagged.

Two Chinese local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) raised a combined $480m on Thursday, following a quiet start to the week due to a public holiday.

The ABS frenzy in China’s domestic market continued unabated this week, with three more originators launching their transactions. This included BYD Auto Finance Co, which made its internationally rated debut.

Sustainable bond issuance from central and eastern Europe is set to rise as issuers face growing pressure from investors to show they are embarking on the transition to a lower carbon economy, even if governments in the region are still dragging their feet, writes Jon Hay.

A trio of firms slipped into the market to place senior paper this week, and with spreads threatening to creep wider, bankers were keen to see lenders make use of the windows available.

Europe’s high grade corporate bond issuers had a tough week in the primary market after inflation fears sent investors fleeing risk.

Muenchener Hypothekenbank (MunHyp) harnessed the growing demand for environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) paper in the Swiss market to land a tap 7bp through the bid side this week. Elsewhere, Toyota ended a 12 year absence from the Swiss franc market to sell the currency’s first automobile deal of the year.

SMBC Nikko has hired a former Barclays debt capital markets banker, as it continues its buildout of capital markets client coverage in Europe.