Barclays

The huge demand seen for ThyssenKrupp Elevator’s buyout financing, the largest bridge loan left on banks’ books through the Covid-19 crisis, should reassure credit committees and capital markets operators that the LBO market is wide open again, for the right business. Owen Sanderson reports.

Europe’s high grade market finally found a solid footing on Thursday after days of scrabbling for purchase, with the biggest trades of the day landing flat or through fair value.

Banks backing Cinven, KKR and Providence’s take-private of MasMovil have boosted the size of the euro loan tranche in the market this week by €500m, cutting down the planned bond that will fund the remainder of the deal, the first major LBO announced in Europe since the coronavirus crisis.

Exchangeable bonds are emerging as a key coronavirus tool for corporates — one they can use to monetise stakes in companies they own without having to concede large discounts by selling shares.

National Grid Electricity Transmission, the UK power transmission company, was out with a dual tranche trade on Thursday, including the first test of the conventional sterling benchmark market in more than a month.

Barclays has appointed two new chairs of its leveraged finance and sponsors business, with Chris Turner relocating to New York to become chairman of global leveraged finance.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the Italian-American crossover-rated car company, launched €3.5bn of bonds into the market on Tuesday, days after its Italian arm had agreed €6.3bn of bailout funds guaranteed by Italy.

Weir Group, the UK engineering company, has signed bank lines totalling $1.19bn, but amid coronavirus-related market volatility, banks required a higher margin than on the deal being refinanced.

Assicurazioni Generali and Uniqa Insurance are each looking at selling tier two capital from their green bond frameworks, using a quieter period in the new issue markets to explore more complicated and multi-faceted transactions.

Chinese property companies Times China Holdings and Golden Wheel Tiandi Holdings Co took a combined $470m from the bond market on Monday.

Europe’s high grade bond market provided some mixed indications of sentiment on Monday with the deals for Takeda and SEE seeing notable differences in demand, leaving syndicate bankers trying to work out what this means for what is expected to be a busy week of issuance.

DirectBooks, which plans to bring a new issuance platform for bond markets, has not ruled out the possibility of a partnership with other providers.