Europe

On Monday, French supermarkets group Carrefour made its second visit to the corporate bond market of 2018, once again in the wake of a period of volatility. However, the company’s timing proved to be good as it was able to tighten pricing 15bp from initial price thoughts.

The seizure of three Ukrainian navy ships by Russia on Sunday has sparked civil unrest in Ukraine and driven the tension between the two countries to new heights, wreaking havoc on Ukraine’s capital markets.

Private school operator Cognita was the first borrower in a week to attempt an issue in the euro high yield market with a sub-benchmark size deal. It sought funding for its acquisition by Jacobs Holding, the Swiss investment and charitable firm, but pulled the bond deal after weak demand.

The head of BNP Paribas’ EMEA unrated debt capital markets team has left the bank.

The final two weeks of bookbuilding for the Skr632m (€61m) listing of Q-linea, the Swedish medical technology company, have begun on a positive note, after the firm announced that it had secured cornerstone interest for over 10% of the transaction.

The Bank of Italy has said that it is concerned that the introduction of a new minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) could prove troublesome for the business operations of Italian banks, given their limited access to international bond markets.

A European interest rates and SSA strategist has left Citi after 13 years to join a US based asset management firm.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Friday said that its board of supervisors supported “continued access” to UK clearing houses in a no-deal scenario.

French postal operator La Poste saved the corporate bond market in Europe from registering a blank week when it sold its first green bond on Friday. Despite the negative sentiment that had pervaded the market throughout the week, the company paid a new issue concession at the lower end of the range paid by deals the previous week.

The French government has taken further steps to rationalise its various public sector lending institutions with the transfer of a controlling stake of SFIL to Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation (CDC), a move that should theoretically help lower public spending.

In this round-up, China and the Philippines sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a new Panda issuance, survey finds that 64% of Chinese investors choose to invest domestically rather than overseas, and foreign firms are getting approvals to help China build a nationwide credit information monitoring system.

US president Donald Trump may be the loudest critic of Chinese policy, but he is far from the only one. The European Chamber of Commerce (Eurocham) tells GlobalRMB that ‘optimism is slowly turning to cynicism’ as China stalls on its reform promises.