Europe

Macro issues are going to have the biggest influence on the loan market over the next 12 months, according to the latest membership survey by the Loan Market Association (LMA).

EU lawmakers are ready to grant a temporary authorisation for the City’s clearing houses (CCPs) and central securities depositories (CSDs), according to two drafts documents obtained by GlobalCapital.

Spanish supermarket group Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación revealed a new scheme to solve its financial troubles on Wednesday, away from the potential debt cut and cash injection recently suggested by its largest single shareholder LetterOne.

UK equities investors and bankers continue to wring their hands over the chaotic state of British politics, but it does little to alter what was already a grim outlook for UK ECM.

Investors in leveraged debt in Europe were hoping for stable new issue spreads, calm secondary markets and receding fund outflows. But as the year ends, they are finding out that dreams do not come true, but nightmares might.

UK government bonds have been playing their traditional role as a haven trade for sterling investors amid the Brexit inspired turmoil of the last 2.5 years. But one possible outcome, the likelihood of which has grown this week — a Labour Party victory in a general election — could push up Gilt yields because of what investors have dubbed the ‘Corbyn premium’.

Due to the lack of new issuance for over a week in the European corporate bond markets, the vote of no confidence in UK prime minister Theresa May was the talk of both the buy and sell sides on Wednesday morning. But there has been little effect on the market itself so far where political developments in other European states are more of a concern.

Alpha Bank Romania is preparing to sell a new deal in euros in the first quarter of 2019, in what would be the first ever issuance of covered bonds from the country.

With the UK in turmoil just over three months before its date of departure from the European Union, a core section of the bank bond investor base is refusing to get out of its sizable position in UK bank debt.

Hungary is planning to sell a Rmb2bn ($290m) three year Panda bond on December 17, becoming the first and only sovereign returnee to the market.

Rising hopes that the UK can escape the nightmare of Brexit are misplaced. A second referendum would carry huge risks, and even if the outcome were Remain, it would leave an unstable Britain with a damaged relationship with the rest of the EU.

SQN Secured Income Fund, the London-listed closed end investment fund focused on small and medium sized enterprise loans and secured lending, is preparing to raise up to £100m to capitalise on opportunities it sees in alternative investment.