Europe

The UK’s National Express has become the first company to sign a loan benchmarked against Sonia, as part of NatWest’s pilot programme to shift away from the scandal-hit Libor standard.

Bank of Ireland (BoI) launched a senior bond through its holding company on Monday. The five year non-call four notes drew a large subscription level in the FIG market, almost six times their final size of €600m.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel and NIBC Bank flew out of the traps with preferred senior bond deals on Monday morning, as financial institutions looked ahead to another busy few days in the capital markets after welcoming some positive surprises from the weekend's G20 summit.

The UK Debt Management Office (UK DMO) has appointed four banks to lead the syndicated reopener of its 0.125% 2041 index-linked Gilt, which is planned to take place next week.

Ukrainian Railways is returning to the Eurobond market for the first time in six years, hitting screens with a five year $500m global bond.

Public equity investors lag behind private funds in owning renewable power assets and are missing an opportunity to get in early on Europe’s next big infrastructure asset class, according to Sébastien Clerc, chief executive of French independent power producer Voltalia.

Żabka Polska, an operator of Polish convenience stores, has launched a syndicated loan to fund a dividend recapitalisation, according to bankers. The transaction is following closely in the footsteps of fellow Polish corporate, Allegro, that closed a Z2bn (€470m) dividend recap in May.

Two companies took advantage of a quiet market on Friday to issue euro bonds. International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, issued €1bn of bonds that were more than three times covered pre-reconciliation, while Volkswagen Bank printed €500m solely led by Goldman Sachs.

Orange, the French telecommunications company, has sold the rest of its shares in BT Group, its UK rival, for £486m.

Shares in Airtel Africa are down at 68.5p on their first day of trading in London, over 14% below the IPO price of 80p a share, while VW’s truck division Traton is down almost 2% on its first day in Frankfurt.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress Nordic agencies have made at the end of June.

Well over Sfr1bn ($1bn) of Pfandbriefe and covered bonds was printed within three days this week, rounding off what bankers say turned out to be a surprisingly good first half of the year for the Swissie market.