Banks

A pair of French agencies hit the market on Wednesday, pulling off impressive deals ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday, where investors hope to hear promises of increased support.

NRW.Bank will be the next public sector borrower to hit the sterling market following an improved funding cost in the currency versus euros and dollars.

Swedish pharmaceutical company Oncopeptides has placed Skr1.1bn ($132m) of new shares to finance the commercialisation of its lead product candidate in the United States, and the development of other treatments.

The financial primary market paused on Wednesday. Despite euro borrowers enjoying oversubscribed order books this week, demand in the secondary market is lagging behind, as investors await further rises in yields.

Swedbank got stuck at initial price thoughts for a $750m three year preferred senior bond in the dollar market this week, having been forced to drop a longer dated leg from its offering.

Oman's Bank Muscat this week returned to debt markets after a brief hiatus to sell a dollar bond. The deal was one of only a few across CEEMEA this week, as market participants say interest rate volatility is still deterring issuance.

World Bank and KfW sold socially responsible bonds in Scandinavian currencies on Tuesday.

The Bank of Montreal marked International Women’s Day with a Canadian dollar women in business bond this week — its first domestic issue off its sustainability framework.

WH Smith, the UK high street retailer, has extended its bank term credit lines and cancelled a crisis liquidity facility, as the borrower posted better than expected trading figures since the start of the year.

Met Group, the Swiss energy trading company, has signed a €120m term loan, increasing the size of its term debt and using some of the same banks that provided revolving credit facilities last month.

Latvia was set to sell a bond in euros on Wednesday, which market participants said was set to be priced very tightly.

Remo Ruffini, the Italian fashion billionaire, has offloaded €412m of shares in Moncler, the luxury goods company famous for its down jackets, through an accelerated bookbuild on Tuesday night.