Europe

Mersen, a French technology manufacturer, will not accept bids from UK-based lenders for its new Schuldschein “in anticipation of a potential Brexit”. Three bankers away from the transaction said they have also discussed excluding UK lenders with other borrowers.

Van Lanschot was able to privately place €100m of additional tier one capital on Monday, after failing to complete a transaction last year. The new deal was at the upper end of the Dutch issuer’s size ambitions, but came with a higher coupon than it had initially been targeting.

Coventry Building Society was set on Tuesday to become the first ever issuer to simultaneously sell new additional tier one notes and tender for outstanding bonds, in an approach that could soon be followed by other European financial institutions. The transaction was facilitated by TwentyFour Asset Management, which is a ‘significant investor’ in both the firm’s new and old AT1s.

Oma Savings Bank plans to open order books for a covered bond on Wednesday following an earlier roadshow. The deal comes amid a dearth of covered bond supply this week and a return to negative rates suggesting good scope for ultra-long dated supply.

Investec veteran Glynn Burger is stepping down.

ABN Amro is looking for a branch licence for its US business, GlobalCapital understands, which the Dutch bank believes would allow it to be more efficient from an operational point of view.

Europe’s most prolific corporate bond issuer re-entered the market on Monday for its second multi-tranche deal of the year, and issued €2.75bn, slightly more than at its €2.5bn outing in January. The book for Volkswagen Financial Services' three tranche issue was somewhat smaller this time, however.

South African technology conglomerate Naspers is set to list its international assets in a new company on the Euronext Amsterdam, creating what is likely to be the largest internet consumer company in Europe. But there will not be an initial public offering as part of the transaction.

The European Banking Authority was asked if a bank could boost its capital ratio by insuring against the possibility of its deferred tax assets (DTAs) not converting into tax credits. The EBA said no.

Norwegian media group Schibsted has launched a spinoff of its classified advertising division, having announced its intention to float on the Oslo Børs.

Investors looking at the multi-billion euro listing of Italian payments company Nexi are largely comfortable with the country’s political environment, focusing more on whether its private equity sellers will seek too high a price.

VC Trade, the leading digital challenger in the Schuldschein market, has begun cooperating with Scope Ratings, which will now offer optional credit opinions for any borrower using the platform. This will add efficiency and transparency to the market, proponents claim.