Europe

Kommuninvest has expanded its group of market makers for its Swedish benchmark programme, as the agency forecast a lower funding target for next year than 2018.

Private equity firms Bain Capital and Cinven are financing their purchase of a further 28.3% stake in Stada Arzneimittel, the German pharmaceutical group, in the euro leveraged finance markets this week, and are having to contend with investors who are in a risk-averse mood.

French car parts supplier Faurecia has launched a Schuldschein expected to reach a size around €400m to €500m, as attractive euro and dollar spread ranges are planted to attract a wide group of lenders.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association on Tuesday said the derivatives industry seemed to have broadly agreed on a method of calculating replacement rates, known as fallback rates, for interbank offered rates (Ibors), in case those rates stop being calculated.

Populist parties such as Italy’s Five Star Movement are winning elections on platforms of transparency, reducing waste and removing corruption. But the biggest waste of money in Italy this year has been the party’s futile budget standoff.

Gilt investors and Gilt-edged market makers (GEMMs) were near unanimous in their choice for the UK Debt Management Office’s final syndication of the year.

Electricité de France has extended and amended its €4bn revolving credit facility to link it to environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, as green-centric loans continue to gain traction among borrowers.

Danish lender Jyske Bank announced a mandate for its first euro-denominated senior non-preferred bond on Tuesday, as it works towards replacing senior preferred debt for its minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL).

UK listed fund GCP Infrastructure has increased the size of its revolving credit facilities to £165m, as the infrastructure investment company continues to draw heavily on its bank lending lines.

Aareal Bank this week returned to the euro Pfandbrief market for the fourth time this year to issue a four year deal, which was priced at its widest spread in four years. The fact Aareal chose to pre-fund suggests that spreads may have further to go.

Commerzbank proved less popular than some of its peers with a new offering of short dated preferred senior debt this week, but the German lender was able to walk away from the euro market with €1.4bn of funding.

Belgian chemicals manufacturer Solvay sold its first public corporate bonds for three years on Tuesday when it reopened the European hybrid bond market, which has not seen a new issue since September. Despite the recent dearth of issuance, the market is still set to record an increase of more than 57% on 2017’s total volume.