Banks

Local lenders in central and eastern Europe have stepped up for local clients during the coronavirus pandemic. Structural factors will help them fortify their position against international banks should infections rise again.

FIG deal arrangers say the euro market could reopen for business as early as next week, with more investors set to return from their holidays.

South Korea’s Big Hit Entertainment, manager of K-pop boy band BTS, has won early-stage approval for its IPO.

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer XPeng is aiming to raise up to $100m from a listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Carnival Cruises has completed a partial buy-back of the $2bn three-year convertible bond it issued in April, to give it extra liquidity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chinese developers E.House and Beijing Properties closed taps to outstanding dollar bonds at the end of last week, raising $250m between them.

Ke Holdings has kicked off bookbuilding for a $2bn US listing. But it has come as one of its largest shareholders, internet giant Tencent Holdings, was blindsided by the US with sanctions.

Housing 21 became the latest UK housing association to receive a strong reception from investors on Friday as it priced a long-dated sterling tap with a book almost three times covered and a negligible new issue concession.

Six months after joining JP Morgan, William Vereker has been named as the next non-executive chair of Santander UK.

Overcollateralisation (OC) levels have increased on covered bond pools since last year for European issuers, Fitch Ratings said this week. But while issuers in some countries, like the UK, showed a rise above the average, borrowers that have participated in central bank funding, like those in Germany, have managed to keep OC levels down.

Investors have been more than happy to buy into new additional tier ones (AT1s) this year, with a rise in spreads having minimised the risk that deals could be extended beyond their first call dates.

Akbank, one of Turkey’s largest financial institutions, has raised a green bond, the first of its kind from the country since the Covid-19 pandemic began.