Europe

A benign start to the year for major equity indices could be just the comfort blocks bankers need to price deals before corporate blackouts begin.

Euro covered bonds issued by ANZ New Zealand, Caffil and National Bank of Canada on Tuesday provided “the least worst option” in a spread widening environment, said bankers.

FIG bankers were encouraged to see credit spreads holding firmer in the secondary market on Tuesday, despite fresh supply of senior debt from ABN Amro and Groupe BPCE.

Yapı ve Kredi Bankası is planning an additional tier one dollar benchmark that looks likely to be the first issue of non-sovereign international bonds from the country since April.

Cellnex Telecom, the Spanish wireless telecommunications company, has reopened the equity-linked market in Europe with a €200m tap of the €600m convertible bond it issued exactly one year ago.

Slovenia hit screens with the first sovereign bond of 2019 on Monday, undergoing some price discovery but closing a successful deal and paving the way for other countries to follow suit.

French telecoms operator Orange ensured the cobwebs were blown off the corporate bond market on Tuesday when it launched the first multi-tranche offering of 2019, which included the longest tenor of the year to date and the year’s first sterling corporate bonds in its four tranches.

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a complicated product. But the past year has presented a few examples of market participants resorting to ‘creative’ tactics to optimise payouts. If the market fails to respond to concerns around the viability of CDS, the product may have to be rethought.

Aircraft leasing company Avolon has returned to the offshore syndications market for a $300m loan.

Investors in some tier one instruments issued by HSH Nordbank are taking their complaints to court in Germany, claiming that the way in which the notes were written down and the coupon payments missed was improper.

Twenty-seven universal banks, investment banks and brokerages have confirmed or are considering moving operations or staff from the UK to the rest of the EU, according to EY. Paris is gaining in popularity as a destination for UK financial services firms, but Dublin appears to be the top choice.

BNP Paribas has hired a senior originator at BayernLB to cover the Schuldschein market.