Barclays

A top-level reshuffle suggests that Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is not going anywhere, but raises fresh questions about whether the bank’s top-five ambitions are achievable, writes David Rothnie.

Europe’s high grade corporate issuers secured another day of bulging order books on Wednesday, as concerns about scant primary supply to come washed away investor jitters about a collapsed $2.2tr fiscal stimulus deal in the US.

Private equity firms Bain Capital, Advent International and Clessidra have completed a huge sell-down of stock in Nexi, days after the Italian payments company unveiled plans for a €4.6bn merger with Sia, a close rival.

Eni, the Italian oil and gas company, got blowout demand for its debut hybrid capital issue on Tuesday, as yield-hungry investors pumped about €14bn of orders into the dual tranche trade.

Société du Grand Paris plans to steam ahead with funding as it announced a doubling of its green EMTN programme and a substantial increase to its 2020 funding programme to help prefund the financing for the next three years of the Grand Paris Express project.

A trio of firsts are coming to the high grade corporate bond market this week, with a debut hybrid from Italian oil and gas firm Eni, a green first for French chemicals company Arkema and a postponed entry to the Eurobond market for Danish pharmaceutical firm Lundbeck.

Green, social and sustainable issuance has dominated the supranational and agency bond market for a whole month, consistently outpacing conventional supply. That trend looks set to continue with three SRI deals already on screens.

Two borrowers visited the long end of the dollar curve this week and while both completed their deals successfully, investors clearly displayed more appetite for the higher yielding of the pair.

Barclays has reshuffled management of its corporate and investment bank, making Paul Compton global head of banking and CS Venkatakrishnan global head of markets.

InterContinental Hotels (IHG), the UK hotel group, sold sterling and euro debt on Thursday without paying a concession, as market technicals and the potential for a substantial coupon increase proved enough to sweep away investors’ concerns about the sector.

Europe’s high grade primary market chugged on with a handful of trades on Wednesday, but syndicate bankers acknowledge that supply looks to be muted in what should usually be a hectic period.

BPER Banca, the Modena-based banking group, has unveiled the terms for a €800m rights issue to fund an acquisition of hundreds of branches across northern Italy from Intesa Sanpaolo.