Banks

Shares in Intu Properties, the UK real estate investment trust focused on shopping centres, tanked this week after the company said on Wednesday morning that it has called off its £1bn-plus rights issue due to “extreme” market conditions.

Banco BPM unveiled an ambitious new strategic plan this week, accounting for the potential impact of Covid-19 in northern Italy. The bank intends to reduce its reliance on the European Central Bank (ECB) for funding and take advantage of regulatory changes allowing additional tier one to be included in Pillar 2 capital requirements.

Coronavirus fears and plunging markets meant a flood of pulled deals in leveraged loans — but a strong backdrop for some, notably French medical diagnostics and testing business Biogroup-LCD which launched a €274.7m acquisition loan into general syndication through JP Morgan and Natixis on Tuesday.

Lloyds Banking Group is giving investors a chance to switch out of a legacy tier two and into a new instrument, without the basic terms of their securities changing.

GTLK Europe, an air and sea vehicle lessor, has priced a seven year unsecured bond — its longest dated deal to date. It paid a premium to investors, but won praise for steering the transaction through a market that had recently been shuttered due to Covid-19 chaos.

China Hongqiao Group, an aluminium producer, has returned to the loan market for a $200m borrowing,

China’s Luxshare Precision is in the market seeking a $500m revolving credit facility, returning to bank lenders after an absence of three years.

Robi Axiata has submitted an application to the Bangladesh securities regulator for a Taka5.2bn ($62m) IPO, set to be the largest in nearly a decade.

Genius Auto Finance, a joint venture between Geely Automobile and BNP Paribas Personal Finance, will follow BMW and SAIC-GMAC and sell a Rmb4bn ($574.2m) three tranche deal on March 10.

LVGEM (China) Real Estate Investment Co raised $450m as part of a new money and exchange offer on Tuesday. The borrower opted for an exchange offer on its old 2020 bond as a way of reducing the impact of recent volatility.

India’s market regulator has given Equitas Small Finance Bank (ESF) the go-ahead for its IPO, which is expected to raise about Rp10bn ($136.3m).

World Bank surprised some market participants by announcing a five year dollar benchmark shortly after the Federal Reserve slashed rates in response to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, but before the details of the Fed's plans were unveiled at a press conference.