Europe

Rating: Aaa/AAA

The UK Debt Management Office has mandated four banks for the first Gilt syndication of its 2019/2020 financial year.

Dismal European growth has weighed on rates, forcing buyers down the curve in search of yield and spread. A sharp turnaround feels distant, but a stabilisation has already materialised and investors that piled into long-dated bonds may come to regret it.

The vast majority of Barclays’ shareholders declined to support activist investor Edward Bramson’s bid to put himself on the board of the bank at its annual general meeting on Thursday.

In a week shortened by a public holiday, the only borrower to put its head over the parapet in the Swiss franc bond market was Pfandbriefzentrale der Schweizerischen Kantonalbank, the issuance vehicle owned by Switzerland’s 24 Cantonal banks.

BNP Paribas recorded a sharp rise in revenue in its fixed income, currencies and commodities trading (FICC) operations during the first quarter, it said on Thursday. Other European investment banks have registered relatively good scores on this front so far this reporting season, with the exception of Deutsche Bank.

Investors eyeing up Tottenham Hotspur’s plan to repay some of its debts by borrowing against its stadium should be wary of buying into a sport that has a long history of burning investors.

Greece and the European Stability Mechanism will reinvigorate the euro public sector market next week with benchmark bonds in the short to mid part of the curve, according to bankers.

Euro investors have become more receptive to UK bank debt this year, leading to a blowout reception for a covered bond from Yorkshire Building Society this week. But issuers are yet to break a long period of silence in sales of unsecured products, mindful as they are of a Brexit hangover in the euro market.

BP on Thursday gave the European corporate bond market its first test of a really big, multi-tranche, investment grade issue since Easter, and showed that the market is every bit as keen as before the break. Order books for the three part bond were big and new issue premiums slim to invisible.

Emerging market bankers and investors have been reacting to this week's attempt by the Venezuelan opposition to unseat president Nicolás Maduro, with some worrying that Russia's support for the government once again raises the risk of sanctions against that country.

Reliance lengthens timetable in Schuldschein debut to firm up orders — Merlin transmogrifies loans to ESG-linked — Bunker Holding refi battens down hatches — Pemberton closes €1bn private debt fund with 13% return target — PVH finds fit for loan refi — Ires Reit grows revolver again