Banks

A trio of European corporate issuers brought bond deals on Thursday, shrugging off the potential distraction of a European Central Bank meeting.

France stole the limelight in the euro public sector bond market this week as it set new records for 50 year benchmarks in terms of size, demand and yield. But next week all eyes will be firmly fixed on the EU, which is set to bring its first bond of the year under its Support to Mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) funding programme.

Natixis has hired Mark Soriano, formerly at Barclays, for its capital structure and rating advisory team.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development led the way on a busy Thursday in the SSA dollar market, printing $2bn flat to its curve.

The State of North Rhine-Westphalia found plenty of demand as it came to the market with a new 30 year benchmark on Thursday, ahead of the European Central Bank’s first monetary policy meeting of the year.

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, the Belgian investment holding company, found a warm response from the bond market on Thursday, despite the potential distractions of a European Central Bank meeting being held on the same day.

Santander reckons it can harness the power of hydrogen to boost its standing in corporate and investment banking, building on its ESG credentials in similar way to how rivals built supremacy during the internet boom, writes David Rothnie.

Utilities Acea and United Utilities Water romped home with ESG-themed bonds in euros and sterling on Thursday. Bankers said investor demand for socially conscious assets was swelling.

RBC Capital Markets has reorganised its European equity capital markets and corporate broking business following the decision of Darrell Uden to step down at the end of this month.

Westpac kicked off 2021’s Australian financials market on Thursday by launching a new tier two bond. Aussie borrowers are expected to focus on capital trades this year in order to meet their total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) requirements with tier two debt.

HSBC has created a dedicated sustainable and transition finance team for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, as the region tries to make its economies more sustainable.

Investors have enthusiastically backed a €4.6bn financing package for Ineos Quattro, funding the integration of BP’s aromatics and acetyls business into the chemicals conglomerate. Strong demand allowed the company to raise more secured debt than expected, cutting funding costs, and strip out a bank-targeted term loan ‘A’ in favour of a bigger, cheaper, institutional term loan ‘B’.