Europe

German automobiles conglomerate Volkswagen has postponed the flotation of Traton, its trucks division, after the company could not achieve its desired valuation owing to a difficult backdrop for the automobile sector.

Unédic, the French unemployment agency, is looking to make its foray into the socially responsible bond market.

Commercial banks have been flexing their muscles in the Schuldschein market, with three international deals being marketed without a Landesbank in sight.

The Bank of Georgia has mandated banks for an additional tier one deal — its debut in the format.

Bank of America has appointed two co-heads of UK investment banking.

PPF Arena has picked banks for its first ever bond, a Reg S senior euro benchmark with a tenor of four to six years.

Swiss Re met with strong demand on its return to the euro market on Thursday, enabling it to crank in pricing on a new subordinated bond.

Dubai-based payments company Network International has kicked off investor education for its IPO on the London Stock Exchange, which is expected to value the business in the region of $3bn, according to a source close to the deal.

The extraordinary conditions in Europe’s investment grade corporate bond market, in which three issuers in succession had printed multi-tranche bonds this week with no new issue premiums, produced a new bizarre result on Wednesday when Sanofi, one of the market’s tightest-trading issuers, took its turn.

Oleg Tinkoff sold $150m worth of London-listed Global Depository Receipts in TCS Group Holding on, the Russian financial services company that controls Tinkoff Bank on Tuesday night.

The bullish mood in credit markets is sweeping through high yield bonds, enabling issuers, like their investment grade counterparts, to crank pricing several notches tighter during bookbuilds.

Risk appetite in the equity blocks market in Europe has improved significantly, according to market sources, and a UK biomedical research charity is the latest vendor to take advantage of the better conditions by offloading a chunk of its stake in Syncona, the FTSE 250 life sciences investment company.