Europe

Trading platform operator Tradeweb has received regulatory approvals to operate trading venues from Amsterdam as it solidifies its preparations for Brexit.

Stephen Plestis, the former co-head of listed derivatives and OTC clearing at Credit Suisse, has become head of sales for the EMEA and Asia region at margin optimisation specialist OpenGamma.

On Tuesday, the European corporate bond market paused to watch the developments around the UK parliament’s meaningful vote on the Brexit deal put forward by the government. But bankers are confident the market won't stop for long.

Continental AG, the German engineering conglomerate, is pushing ahead with its spinoff of its powertrain division despite volatility in global equity markets.

BNP Paribas made a comeback to the Singapore dollar bond market to shore up its capital, bringing the year’s first Basel III-compliant tier two outing in the currency.

CPPIB Capital was comfortably oversubscribed for its $2bn trade on Monday with the dollar SSA market remaining attractive at the short end. Agence Francaise de Developpement, KfW and Kommuninvest will look to tap into lucrative conditions in the currency after mandating banks for deals on Tuesday.

SNCF Réseau paid a significant new issue premium for its first benchmark green bond since 2017 on Monday. The European Investment Bank will issue its own 10 year euro bond on Tuesday, following trades in sterling and dollars earlier in the year.

Italy hit screens for a 15 year euro benchmark on Monday, in what will be the sovereign’s first syndication for a new issue since agreeing its 2019 budget with the European Commission at the end of last year. Elsewhere in the eurozone periphery, Greece is looking to return to the bond market with a euro syndication in the five year part of the curve, according to bankers.

Bids for recently issued covered bond deals are trading close to or tighter than their reoffer spreads but with the UK parliament’s crunch vote on the European withdrawal agreement due on Wednesday, scope for a further widening cannot be ruled out. Especially if new issue premiums continue to reprice curves.

Issuance in Europe’s high yield bond market should take off after March, participants say, predicting a slow but resilient first quarter, even though new distressed credits may emerge in January.

Some Schuldschein arrangers are expecting that a syndicate’s distribution skills may become more important this year, as conditions across capital markets become more chaotic.

Luxury cosmetics company L’Occitane has agreed to buy UK skincare brand Elemis for $900m, in what will be its biggest acquisition since it listed at the turn of the decade.