Europe

Frédéric Giovansili has joined Tikehau Capital as deputy CEO of its asset management platform, Tikehau Investment Management. He moves from Nomura.

Barclays’ corporate and investment bank has reached the endgame in its fight to boost returns following the departure of Tim Throsby, as group CEO Jes Staley takes control for the second time in three years.

The Autonomous Community of Madrid has participated in a ‘proof of concept’ Schuldschein transaction on blockchain with BBVA. The loan is also sustainability-linked.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa sold a seven year non-preferred senior note on Thursday, in a market where investors are thirsty for supply. The €500m deal attracted €2bn of orders — demand that even surprised the arrangers, given that funds are still ignoring growing risks around a no-deal Brexit.

Shares in Medacta Group, the Swiss maker of orthopaedic devices controlled by the Siccardi family, rose in the aftermarket on Thursday morning after a popular Sfr547m IPO that has been described as “textbook” by a banker at one of the global coordinators.

Freight Investor Services, the London freight and commodity brokerage, has unveiled a new commodity derivatives trading system, in partnership with KB Tech, a UK fintech company. It will enable trading and clearing of freight-related contracts on exchanges including SGX, Nasdaq, EEX and CME.

A cluster of large pan-African companies are exploring listings on the London Stock Exchange, but many have delayed their plans because of political risk in both Africa and the UK.

Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) has refinanced a $400m loan, raising $500m. While the deal was oversubscribed, bankers still have little hope of a sustained increase in Russian syndicated lending, which some have called a barren market.

Spain’s Acciona has signed a €675m environmental, social and governance-linked loan. Lenders piled into the infrastructure and renewable energy group's deal after launch, enabling the size to grow by 35%.

Stellar market conditions have been helping smaller financial institutions find room to access funding, with Iceland’s Islandsbanki joining Aareal Bank and NIBC Bank in selling senior bonds with sizes of below €500m this week.

Moody's has published a new issue report for the mortgage covered bond programme of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), assigning the bonds which are expected to be retained for central bank repo' purposes, a rating of Aa1.

The Covered Bond Directive provides a basis for harmonisation of the European covered bond market and sets a standard for other countries to follow suit. But following approval of the final text this week, market participants expect the new law will give member states plenty of leeway to interpret the rules.