Europe

S4 Capital, the digital advertising and marketing services company created by Martin Sorrell, the former CEO of WPP, has agreed the terms of its second acquisition and is partly financing the deal through a £74m placing and open offer on the London Stock Exchange.

Repaying funding received under the European Central Bank’s targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) is likely to raise funding costs but, as most Iberian banks have made plans, refinancing risks are limited, according to Moody’s.

The risk appetite of high yield bond investors in Europe continues to pall, as Italian construction firm Cooperativa Muratori e Cementisti di Ravenna filed for creditor protection this week.

The EU moved a step forward on its tortuous path towards completing its Banking Union on Monday night. Finance ministers agreed on some details relating to a backstop for the fund for resolving banks, but have not yet shown any sign of agreeing on a common deposit insurance scheme.

Utility Thames Water has a signed a £1.4bn sustainability-linked revolving credit facility that its coordinators say is the first to be linked to an asset-specific Infrastructure GRESB rating.

Four fund managers have left Kames Capital’s fixed income team to join competitor Artemis this week, prompting a staff reshuffle at their former employer and expectations of new high yield funds being opened at their new home.

A short surge in risk appetite on Monday was not durable enough for ING Groep to proceed with a dollar tier two bond transaction on terms it felt were reasonable this week. The Dutch firm became the latest FIG issuer to pull a trade after announcing initial price thoughts.

The Council of the European Union has approved its final version of a controversial legislative proposal that seeks to overhaul the bloc’s oversight of clearing houses.

Wells Fargo's head of credit origination for the EMEA region has joined Intesa Sanpaolo’s loan syndicate desk.

SAP on Monday opened the month with the largest euro corporate bond ever sold in December. Tuesday then saw no new issuance, but bankers have not yet turned their attention to buying Christmas presents as a number of deals remain possible.

A FIG and corporate DCM banker who worked at HSBC until August has started a new job at Fitch Ratings managing the firm’s client relationships.

LBBW has hired an origination and syndication banker for its SSA team in Stuttgart, which now comprises five people.