Banks

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena said there were some “uncertainties” around its capital strengthening plans as it slumped to a €1.7bn annual loss on Wednesday. The Italian lender has recently denied rumours that it is working on an imminent sale of subordinated debt.

BPCE is planning to buy the stake in Natixis it does not already own, and is also examining splitting it up, placing its corporate and investment banking activities and asset and wealth management branch into a new structure.

Prada, the Italian fashion house, has made a return to the sustainability-linked loan market, becoming one of the few borrowers in Europe to sign a second deal that links the margin it pays to its sustainability performance.

Ecobank Nigeria, part of the pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational, was set to raise dollar debt in the bond market on Wednesday, underscoring investors' appetite for exposure to sub-Saharan Africa.

Apollo Global Management has exited Watches of Switzerland, the UK luxury watch retailer, having sold the last of its shares via an accelerated bookbuild.

Deloitte has hired another former investment banker to work with financial firms, in the form of Guy Stevens.

Chinese cloud-based communications provider Cloopen Group Holdings saw its stock price triple on the first day of trading, after sealing a $320m IPO above the marketed range.

India Toll Roads sold its first dollar bond on Tuesday, becoming just the latest issuer from the country amid an expected surge of supply this year.

Chinese bond investors welcomed the issuance of new ‘carbon neutrality bonds’ this week. Six companies raised a combined Rmb6.4bn ($994m) in the format, supporting Beijing’s goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2060.

Chinese property company Huafa Industrial Co Ltd Zhuhai raised $200m from the sale of a sub-one year note on Tuesday.

Baidu has become the latest technology company from China to tap the loan market, breaking a four-year absence from syndication for a $3bn transaction. The company wants to take advantage of the growing popularity of tech deals among bank lenders. Pan Yue reports.

Banks that mostly missed out on last year's trading and origination windfall would find it difficult to make up for lost time by leaning into investment banking; that ship has probably already sailed.