Europe

Russia’s State Transport Leasing Co (STLC or GTLK), will start a roadshow on Monday to market a six or seven year dollar benchmark in the first time a fully state-owned company has tried to tap the bond markets since the most recent round of US sanctions against the Russian sovereign in early August. Investors have mixed views as to the response it will receive.

The City of Gothenburg plans to up its green bond issuance to two a year as part of Nordic public issuers’ wider push in the format. The Swedish municipality made its first visit to the green bond market this year on Tuesday, using its new green bond framework.

Lloyds Bank, Virgin Money and Skipton Building Society took advantage of an improvement in market conditions since the European Central Bank’s policy meeting, and the UK Parliament’s efforts to legislate against leaving Europe without a deal, to issue a string of successful covered bonds this week.

Ferretti, the Italian manufacturer of luxury yachts, launched its long awaited IPO on Monday. Investors are being sold a story of glamour and luxury, but there are some concerns after the losses many suffered during the IPO of Aston Martin, last year’s prominent luxury listing.

The order book for Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen Girozentrale’s (Helaba) €1bn 10 year public sector backed Pfandbrief was quick to build reflecting the view that the bonds were priced cheaply and that spreads will almost certainly tighten, said bankers.

LBBW joined CaixaBank is raising social bond funding in the euro market this week, but the German lender struggled to build up demand and tighten pricing for its €500m deal.

Permanent TSB raised €300m with its first senior issuance for the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) on Thursday, arriving in the market two weeks after its peer Bank of Ireland had to pull a deal because of Brexit-induced volatility.

Two Canadian issuers revitalised the dollar covered bond market this week as Royal Bank of Canada raised €1.5bn of three year funding on Tuesday at half the cost of its senior funding and at a substantially lower cost than a year ago. The transaction was followed by Fédération des caisses Desjardins du Québec (FCDQ) which opened order books for another three year on Thursday.

ING, which served as agent on a Schuldschein for the first time only five years ago, has carved out an impressive niche in the market, arranging nearly every green issue.

The Republic of Kazakhstan and the State of Montenegro have mandated for the first euro bonds from the CEEMEA region since the market re-opened in September.

Armenia is in the market for its first sovereign Eurobond in four years, hitting screens with a 10 year $500m no-grow.

Besides the rare offering of a Chinese issuer on Wednesday, when Jin Jiang International issued a €500m bond, euro corporate bond investors had to make do with two other deals, from Telenor and Mondelez.