Europe

Bill Ackman’s hedge fund management company Pershing Square Holdings has sold $400m worth of 20 year bonds to Guggenheim Partners Investment Management.

Robust demand for this week’s covered bond from Banco di Desio e della Brianza has boosted hopes of further supply from the eurozone periphery. But, with further European Central Bank stimulus on the way, a supply ‘onslaught’ is unlikely.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s decision to pull the $9.8bn IPO of its Asian business is a classic example of a seller not listening to the views of investors when it comes to valuation.

Asset managers are looking to the emerging markets as a hedge against a slowdown in the US and Europe.

Tesco Personal Finance ratcheted in the pricing on its debut senior unsecured bond on Thursday, starting with a high new issue concession but bringing it in by 35bp amid hefty investor demand.

Pension Insurance Corp (PIC) offered a pickup over similar instruments for its debut restricted tier one (RT1) transaction on Thursday. It hopes the deal will help it tap into growth in the UK’s pension risk transfer market.

Ilfryn Carstairs, global chief investment officer at alternative investor Värde Partners, will become co-CEO from next year, while keeping his co-CIO title.

Ithaca Energy, a UK-based oil and gas operator, revised its bond terms to placate investors this week — marking a rare victory for the buy-side in a market that has offered ever weaker protection. Buyers for the bonds had been prepared to swallow Ithaca's original proposals, but demanded a double digit yield to do so, forcing the borrower to back down to hit its target price. Karoliina Liimatainen reports.

Investors pumped €2.25bn of demand into Italgas’s €600m 10 year note on Wednesday, leaving the deal nearly four times covered. That was despite a soft economic background and the more muted €1bn of demand Goodman European Partnership, the logistics Reit, had got on Monday for its €400m 10 year no-grow bond.

Nationwide Building Society has restructured the swaps underlying its covered bond programme to ensure a proportionate share of the cover pool's mortgage interest will be swapped to Sonia, winning approval from Moody's this week.

After her narrowly passed confirmation vote in the European Parliament on Tuesday evening, new European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen is set to establish a sustainable investment plan and to green the European Investment Bank.

Lloyds Bank was able to increase the size of its second dollar covered bond issued on Wednesday — its second deal in this market in the last year. In doing so, it still managed to pay a minimal new issue concession.