Europe

Corporate bond spreads firmed on Thursday afternoon, after the European Central Bank announced its long-awaited package of monetary easing measures, showing that, for this segment of the market, the ECB had done enough. Widespread fears of a sell-off if Mario Draghi, ECB president, underwhelmed have not so far come to pass.

Nissan has sold upwards of $600m US private placements in the first US PP deal for any Japanese car company, according to several people familiar with the situation. Headline deals from car companies in both European and US private debt markets this year has led market players to believe private investors are taking a rather forgiving approach to the industry’s challenging moment. Silas Brown reports.

SSA issuers turned towards niche currencies this week to meet a range of demand across the Australian and Canadian dollar curves. KfW and the Asian Development Bank started the week printing in Australian dollars, before the World Bank joined them in the currency while also returning to the Maple market.

Bouygues, the French construction, telecoms and media group, has sold almost half its stake in Alstom, one of the largest manufacturers of rolling stock in the world, after the European Commission blocked a plan to merge the company with Siemens’ trains business earlier this year.

Bank of Montreal and Rothesay Life made use of the quieter political situation in the UK this week to issue in sterling, in the same week issuance paced down in the euro market ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting.

More banks are expected to take advantage of the third series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) after the European Central Bank sweetened the terms of the funding programme on Thursday. Mario Draghi looked set to leave his position as ECB president on a bang, having also announced tiered rates of deposit for banks and a return to monthly asset purchases.

The IPO of TeamViewer, the German software company, is proving popular with investors. The books are covered throughout the price range, after less than a day of bookbuilding.

Russian pipe manufacturer Chelyabinsk Pipe Plant on Thursday sold one of the tightest ever Russian debut bonds, according to a lead manager on the note.

The Turkish central bank delivered a 325bp cut to its main policy rate on Thursday. Although the move is larger than the 250bp consensus that had emerged ahead of the meeting, many analysts had been fearful that the move would be even more drastic — and the market appears to be rallying in relief.

Pinewood Studios' effort to re-cast itself as a real estate company seemed pure box office to investors, who placed enough orders for a new bond to allow the borrower to up the deal size and still price at the tight end of guidance.

The yields on core and peripheral eurozone government bonds sank to record low levels following the announcement of a broad stimulus package on Thursday, comprising the restart of net asset purchases, a 10bp rate cut and a tiered deposit rate system for banks.

DB bumps up Lewellen, Buvat gets levfin — ING names new corp fin boss — Ico’s capital markets head departs — CBAM Partners hires Levilain to help euro loans launch — Citadel shrinks European credit team