Europe

Continental, the German car parts company, is still committed to its plan to spin off its powertrain division, despite postponing the IPO earlier this year due to volatility caused by the escalating trade war between the US and China.

After issuing its biggest ever bond last week, Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten will wait until after the highly anticipated US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings later this month before deciding what to do about its next benchmark new issue.

The investment grade corporate bond market appeared to be taking a more sedate pace this week compared to last week's stampede of new bond issues. There were three deals in the market on Monday, but the real action will begin once US borrowers and investors return from a public holiday on Tuesday, to be led by a deal from US conglomerate, Danaher.

Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) unearthed strong demand for the first negative yielding non-German covered bond of the year, and the first with a long tenor.

Mizuho issued five year and 10 year senior bonds this week, fixing spreads for the two instruments at 65bp and 67bp, respectively.

Rabobank launched an additional tier one (AT1) bond with a record low coupon in the euro market this week. The Dutch bank started with price thoughts of 3.625%, but tightened by 40bp to smash through the previous record of 3.5%, set by Nordea in 2017.

Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Swedish private equity firm EQT confirmed on Monday that it is seeking to list on the Nasdaq Stockholm, becoming the second issuer to announce it aims to test Europe’s IPO market this autumn.

Compared with last year, employees at BNP Paribas and Société Générale are more disapproving of their chief executives and less optimistic on the outlook for their firms over the next six months, according to analysis carried out by UBS.

London football club Tottenham Hotspur FC has sold £525m of US private placements, according to sources familiar with the situation, to pay off bank loans which funded the construction of its new stadium.

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Ltd, the London-listed investment fund that specialises in private debt and infrastructure bonds, is preparing to raise £146m to take advantage of a growing pipeline of investment opportunities, despite the political volatility in the UK.

Standard & Poor's has affirmed Romania's investment grade rating, at BBB- with a stable outlook. The central European sovereign escaped a downgrade to junk status, but bond auctions this week will determine appetite for the credit.