Europe

BNZ International Funding proved popular when it surfaced with a short-dated senior deal in the euro market on Wednesday. It had waited for UK MPs to vote on the terms of the country’s withdrawal from the EU before looking to investors for the funding.

At the Central and Eastern European Forum hosted by Euromoney in Vienna, central bank governors, chief executives and other market leaders gathered to discuss challenges and strengths for the region's markets. Despite monetary difficulties and geopolitical tensions within the region, bankers were optimistic, particularly for the syndicated loan market.

Gilt yields jumped on Wednesday morning as investors bet that the UK government’s record defeat in its parliamentary vote on its Brexit deal on Tuesday would lead to a softer Brexit — or even no Brexit at all.

Global equity markets have stabilised after steep falls in December and volatility has ebbed, prompting some IPO and block vendors to take advantage of open markets while there is a window.

Turk Eximbank has released initial price guidance for a $500m five year senior unsecured bond.

Bank bond buyers have generally kept quiet in the euro secondary market at the beginning of 2019, preferring to wait for issuers to offer new deals at attractive spread levels.

Despite the furore around the UK government’s defeat in getting its Brexit deal approved on Tuesday evening, corporate bond investors are yet to join the panic and remain open to buying new issues.

This week’s parliamentary vote in the UK on a withdrawal agreement for its exit from the European Union has emptied the deal pipeline in the euro leveraged finance markets in early January. But after the plan was rejected on Tuesday, any clarity about the near future looks unlikely, and some debt buyers say borrowers have little reason to wait for longer.

Never mind the fact that Italian banks are unable to fund themselves economically. If a few can demonstrate access to the Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite market, the European Central Bank’s impending third targeted long term refinancing operation (TLTRO) might look less like a bailout.

Japanese regulators are looking to implement risk retention requirements for investors that closely mirror European-style regulation, bringing them more in line with Europe but potentially distancing Japanese investors from US ABS markets.

Italy and the European Investment received combined orders of over €50bn in the euro public sector market on Tuesday before what could be an even more uncertain period in Europe, with the UK parliament set to vote on prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement later in the evening.

Libor is likely on the way out for sterling loans in 2021, and it is almost impossible to overestimate the deluge of facility amendments headed towards loans desks. But there is worse to come.