Europe

JP Morgan has raised €400m by issuing a cash-settled bond, exchangeable into shares of Siemens, at an extremely aggressive price level. The purpose of the deal is not clear.

Hot on the heels of its senior non-preferred last week, LBBW has mandated leads for a three year green Pfandbrief. The Korean Housing & Finance Corporation (KHFC) is also preparing issuance, after mandating leads for a roadshow with plans to issue a euro covered bond.

This week's scorecard looks at the progress European sovereigns have made in their 2019 funding programmes.

BPCE and Swedbank attracted good demand for their sizeable 12 and six year covered bonds on Monday. Although the bonds were priced tightly, initial order book momentum was slow. The Swedish issuer did particularly well in the context of money laundering charges.

Richard Glenn has left his position as head of the insurance solutions group for Europe, the Middle East and Asia at Nomura, joining Invesco. Another head of that group departed the bank last year.

NatWest Markets and Crédit Agricole both came to the market on Monday with supply from the safest end of the capital stack. Both deals were heavily subscribed in the face of trade war tensions and uncertainty over Brexit.

Latvia was in market on Monday for a tap of a 30 year bond, returning to the line it opened three months ago. The deal enjoyed strong demand, allowing leads to slice 6bp from the spread.

Russian Rail’s debut green Eurobond last week met with strong demand, but some investors had reservations about buying green bonds from a company owned by the Russian state and used to transport fossil fuels. Antonio Keglevich, UniCredit’s head of sustainability bond origination, responded to the criticism.

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) will introduce its new green, social and sustainability bond framework to investors ahead of a debut euro benchmark sustainability bond.

Matthieu Pigasse has been appointed as global head of banking and deputy CEO of financial advisory at Lazard.

In a common letter published on Friday May 17, the finance ministers of France, Germany and the Netherlands proposed setting up a high level working group to decide the next steps needed to strengthen capital markets in the EU.

Tikehau Capital, the French alternative investment manager, has raised €300m after a private capital raising led by Morgan Stanley.