Deutsche Bank

French telecoms group Altice announced its €7bn offer to buy the Portuguese assets of Portugal Telecom from Oi, the Brazilian telecoms company, on Monday, firing the first round in what looks to be a political bidding war.

SEB got the additional tier one market back on to a strong footing on Thursday, selling the first AT1 from a European bank for almost two months to a rapturous reception. National Australia Bank was also active in the subordinated market, overcoming concerns over a novel structure to sell the first Basel III-compliant tier two deal from an Australian issuer in euros.

United Internet — Marine Harvest — Heathrow

Siemens Audiology Solutions - Famar - Christ

The European Central Bank's covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3) turned relative value upside down this week, with a French deal pricing inside a similar Swedish offering, among a crop of four new issues.

Elizabeth Nolan, ex-head of global client services and client onboarding for markets and investor services at JPMorgan in London, is set to join Deutsche Bank as head of custody and clearing, also in London, effective January 2015.

Alliance Boots’ £12bn leveraged buyout in 2007 was a titanic and totemic deal, which symbolised the height of the pre-crisis LBO wave. This week, the financing was done that will remove the UK pharmacy group’s name from the corporate landscape, merging it with US chain Walgreens into WBA — Walgreens Boots Alliance.

The New Zealand Debt Management Office extended its inflation linked bond curve with a 15 year issue on Wednesday.

EQT, the private equity fund, has entered into an agreement to acquire Siemens Audiology Solutions, the hearing aid division of Siemens.

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is returning to the international market for first time in four years as it tries to swap investors out of its two existing dollar bonds via an accelerated switch offer.

E-commerce firm Alibaba Group, which signed a $3bn revolving facility with four lenders on August 30, has completed a limited syndication of the financing. The facility features looser covenants than its last loan and marked the first US style revolver in Asia, said a banker on the deal.

Investors looking to diversify into India received their second opportunity in as many weeks when JSW Steel tapped the market with its maiden offshore bond on November 5. While the transaction did not get as much attention as Tata Motors did last month, it still resonated well with investors and ended up with a more than three times covered book.