Europe

Retailer Sports Direct has offered to buy Debenhams for around £61.4m in cash, though the companies disagree on whether Mike Ashley’s firm will be able to deal with the department store’s immediate debt servicing requirements.

Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond mining business by carat volume, embarked on investor meetings on Tuesday to market a dollar benchmark Reg S/144A senior bond.

The IPOs of two payments companies being marketed in Europe have moved ahead in the past 48 hours. Italian firm Nexi has set a price range, while Dubai-based Network International has attracted Mastercard as a cornerstone investor. Equity investors are now assessing whether to pay high multiples for future growth.

Confidence in Turkey is flagging this week as the currency is fluctuating and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has imposed limitations on Turkish banks lending lira.

Romania has released initial price guidance for its euro triple tranche bond, a deal which is expected to total over €2bn and includes the sovereign’s first ever euro 30 year bond.

Oma Savings Bank proved popular on its return to the euro covered bond market on Wednesday, allowing it to hit the upper end of its size ambitions and only pay a slim premium to investors.

Japan’s securities market supervisor has called for Citigroup to be fined for market manipulation of the country’s government bond futures. The trader in question has now left the bank as a result of the episode.

Caixa Económica Montepio Geral opened books for its first public tier two capital issue on Wednesday, announcing eye-catching price thoughts of 10.5% area.

Akbank has closed an oversubscribed loan, welcoming eight new banks to its syndicate and kickstarting the refinancing season for Turkish banks. The deal was signed amid increasing market uncertainty in Turkey, with the lira having weakened and uncertainty surrounding local elections this weekend.

Recent supply of additional tier one capital bonds has confirmed to investors that reset spreads are not the only game in town for banks, when it comes to deciding whether to leave an instrument outstanding beyond a call date.

Turkey has had a sensational quarter, with borrowers from the country raising more than $10.2bn in the market — the highest total in history. But with its central bank short of reserves and its currency struggling to hold on to its gains, a cap in hand visit to the IMF may be around the corner, and Turkish issuers’ best funding days may be behind them.

The European Central Bank, as the bank supervisor, has a clear mandate to maintain a bank as a going concern, but that is not necessarily positive for covered bonds. The forthcoming European covered bond directive may help mitigate these concerns — but it is not guaranteed.