Coronavirus

The European Commission’s plans for a recovery fund will not be enough to prevent Italy’s public finances suffering a severe fiscal deterioration said Fitch, after the ratings agency downgraded the sovereign on Tuesday night.

Equities have made a stirring recovery since the record coronavirus sell-off in March. Corporates, looking to raise cash by any means necessary to survive the crisis and lower their risk, have taken advantage of the uplift, selling non-core equity holdings. Now, more are being urged to get in on the trade while it lasts, as there are fears that stock markets will plummet again if lockdowns or infections worsen with the pandemic far from over, writes Sam Kerr.

The UK’s RPS Group, a professional services consultancy firm, has signed a £60m short term revolving credit facility that sits alongside its main bank revolver, as borrowers continue to build their access to liquidity in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pension Insurance Corp was almost 12 times subscribed for a new tier two capital bond on Thursday, after following some of its UK peers into the sterling market amid a busy pipeline for new pension risk transfer deals.

The funding needs of Spain’s regions are expected to rise this year. The coronavirus pandemic is stretching healthcare resources, which are funded at a regional level, and will require financing, according to debt capital markets bankers.

Coffee machine company Selecta’s high yield bonds dropped 24 points on Wednesday after it released awful numbers for the fourth quarter of last year — sending leverage shooting up well before any coronavirus impact. It was the first company in Europe to announce it had raised new super-senior debt from its sponsor, KKR Credit, which injected a €50m liquidity facility into the capital structure in March.

Market participants argued that the European Commission could have gone further this week to ease leverage ratio constraints on banks during the coronavirus crisis.

Norwegian video conferencing firm Pexip has shown that there may yet be life in Europe's IPO market, which had been presumed incapacitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Investors said they are happy to buy new flotations but probably only a select group of companies will be able to come to market.

The Netherlands has increased its borrowing programme for the year as a result of a measures taken by the government following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Société Générale’s equities division posted a 99% year-on-year drop in revenues for the first quarter on Thursday, contributing to an overall loss in both the wholesale division and for the bank overall.

Central American development bank Cabei announced its return to US bond markets in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis with its largest ever bond deal, as a strong bid from Asian buyers helped the lender to raise $750m inside regional comps.

Chilean government-owned copper miner Codelco said on Wednesday that it had sought to increase its cash position in the face of market uncertainty after wrapping a well oversubscribed return to bond markets.