Europe

The European Commission said on Thursday that it had informed eight banks that they had breached European Union antitrust rules in the purchase and trading of European government bonds between 2007 and 2012.

State-owned Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom is embarking on a US roadshow with investors keen to take a look, ignoring any threat of possible further sanctions from the country.

A quiet week for corporate bond issuance may have helped BMW Finance achieve tight pricing on Thursday, but selling its largest ever deal with new issue premiums in single digits was still an excellent outcome when compared to the premiums being paid at the start of the month.

The hopes of emerging markets participants were proven well founded on Wednesday when US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell walked back from the aggressive trajectory of rate hikes he had previously suggested.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank made light work of a preferred senior bond sale on Thursday, having returned to the euro market after failing at its first attempt at debuting in the asset class, earlier in January. With issuance conditions still improving, DCM bankers expect more banks to take advantage of a deal window at the beginning of February.

DWF, the UK law firm, has filed paperwork on an initial public offering in London, but many in equity capital markets are predicting that the the city’s largest deals will come from the emerging markets.

The universities of Aberdeen and Leicester are marketing US private placements (US PP), it is understood, both of which willl be inaugural transactions.

Belgium will begin increasing the size of its €4.5bn April 2033 Green OLO through multiple auctions in 2019.

Artificial Solutions, the Swedish software company that developed conversational artificial intelligence, may sell new shares on the main Swedish market to finance its growth, once it has obtained a listing on Nasdaq First North, according to its CEO.

L-Bank’s first dollar benchmark of the year was in keeping with a trend in the currency so far this year for oversubscribed deals with low concessions, as leads calculated a 1bp new issue premium for the deal.

Nederlandse Waterschapsbank was over three times covered for a 10 year affordable housing bond on Wednesday, allowing it to tighten multiple times during pricing to leave no concession, according to on-looking bankers. Meanwhile, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has appointed banks to arrange a roadshow in Europe and Asia for a long dated euro sustainability bond.

Low & Bonar, the UK maker of fabrics and flooring materials, has announced a £54m placing and open offer to reduce its debt burden in order to satisfy its debt covenants.