Europe

The public sector bond market is braced for S&P’s review of Italy’s credit rating this Friday. Investor analysts said a downgrade would result in a “material widening” of BTPs if the sovereign fell to just one notch above investment grade.

An SSA/EM origination banker at Barclays resigned from the bank on Tuesday.

The UK Treasury is now seeking applications for the next governor of the Bank of England. Mark Carney will step down in less than a year's time.

A Dutch court has asked a panel of experts to further investigate what SNS might have been worth had it not been nationalised six years ago, forcing former bondholders to wait even longer to learn whether they can expect compensation for their losses.

Ray Dalio’s missive on reforming capitalism proposes making the US more egalitarian: this might be needed to avoid slowing the economy and even to avert a collapse in the economic system itself. But investors such as Dalio are not so keen on putting capital into the one region in the world where capitalism and equality have found an easier marriage.

Wendel, the French investment group, issued a €300m no-grow on Monday. This was a typical size for the issuer, but it was its first issue for two and a half years. It will use the money to exercise options to call and make whole on its 2020 and 2021 bonds.

If the architects behind the complicated world of bank resolution and prudential capital regulation have proved one thing, it is that the devil is not always in the detail. Sometimes labels matter more.

A softening in Ukrainian bond spreads may prompt the country's debt management officials to drag their feet over issuing its next public bond. It would be better for them to get moving.

Rustranscom, the Russian freight and logistics operator, has decided against a listing that it had begun marketing in London and has opted instead for a private equity transaction.

Danish agricultural company Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab (DLG) entered the Schuldschein market on Monday, in search of at least €100m.

In the wake of changing trading patterns, the European Stability Mechanism and the European Financial Stability Facility have developed methods to keep their bond issues liquid. In this way, the issuers hope they will be more attractive to traditional government bond investors.

Schuldschein buyers fear a further round of price tightening is nearing after Continental and Lufthansa both closed transactions that were three or four times oversubscribed. But as investor orders were substantially scaled back in both instances, some are considering inflating their bids to guarantee their desired amount.