Credit Suisse

Permira opted to rescue its debt purchasing portfolio company Lowell from the restructuring that many thought was imminent, with the largest slug of equity support any sponsor has injected in Europe since the coronavirus pandemic began. Covid-19 has crushed cashflows for some debt purchasers, but next year should be a bumper year for NPL buying — for those firms with cash to do so, writes Owen Sanderson.

Christian Meissner has an exciting new position at Credit Suisse. But how far can he improve the Swiss bank’s offering to wealth management clients while also handling its culture, asks David Rothnie.

China’s Ant Group kicked off marketing for its Hong Kong and Shanghai dual listing on Thursday, the last stage before launching a possible $35bn IPO, set to be the world’s largest to date. The combined offering is already more than a third covered by onshore investors, with global buyers lining up for the rest. Addison Gong and Jonathan Breen report.

HSBC has hired Vikas Seth for a vice-chairman position, where he will be tasked with serving the firm's emerging markets clients.

Swiss duty free operator Dufry has finished its Sfr820m at-market rights issue, which has enabled Advent International and Chinese e-commerce firm to take large strategic stakes in the company.

La Banque Postale (LBP) printed €500m of January 2031 non-call January 2026 tier two paper this week, its first in the format in over three years.

Nanofilm Technologies International is giving the Singapore Exchange some much-needed IPO activity, launching the first main board listing on the bourse since the beginning of the year.

Asia’s dollar bond market has been swamped with new deals this week. Thursday was no different, with corporate borrowers from Greater China alone raising just over $3bn between them.

KWG Living Group Holdings, a property manager, and real estate developer Radiance Holdings launched bookbuilding for their Hong Kong IPOs on Friday.

Givaudan and Nant de Drance attracted big order books this week, driven by demand from asset managers, allowing both to price Swiss franc bonds through fair value.

FIG borrowers may be well funded, but rates are low and market conditions are good enough to support opportunistic issuance — as was shown this week by a slate of deals across the capital structure. Given a volatile end to 2020 is likely, issuers will need to stay alert and take advantage of funding windows as they arise, write Frank Jackman and Bill Thornhill.

Credit Suisse appoints Bank of America's former investment bank boss Christian Meissner — Barclays hires Gauthier Le Milon