Europe

Looming changes to the way leases are treated are causing a major headache for debt analysts, with some in the market warning that the rules as written are ripe for manipulation by unscrupulous companies. Michael Turner reports.

Corporate bond investors are casting about for ways to deploy cash amid signs of growing caution.

Türk Ekonomi Bankası (TEB) and İşbank followed Akbank with successful loan refinancings, as Turkish banks pressed on with a robust but pricey refi season, amid the country’s economic and political difficulties.

Financial institutions shied away from selling new unsecured bonds in the European primary market this week, as see-sawing global equity indices meant that issuers lost confidence in their ability to complete new deals successfully.

Banks which lend to Russian companies are on tenterhooks to find out if their comatose market will shrink further if the US brings more sanctions against the country.

Barclays announced this week that it is calling $2.65bn of retail preference shares. The bank said it is redeeming the instrument now, several years after the first call date, due to confidence in its capital position.

The hefty chunk of SRI bond supply from the public sector in the second half of the year shows no signs of slowing down, with plenty in the pipeline — including from a debut issuer.

The clearing arm of Eurex, the German derivatives bourse, is widening the scope of its partnership programme to cover repo and over the counter (OTC) FX markets.

This month’s global equity sell-off has devastated markets and investors' performance for the year, and Europe’s large equity capital markets houses are thinking of calling time on a challenging 2018 to give a battered buy-side some time to recover, writes Sam Kerr.

The UK’s B&M’s debt financed expansion into the French market was branded credit negative by Moody’s on Thursday, with the ratings agency saying the acquisition holds material execution risk.

Sweden's borrowing needs will rise in 2020 for the first time in five years due to an expected government budget deficit, the country’s debt office said on Thursday. To fund its increased financing needs, the sovereign will issue more local currency government bonds and money market instruments.

Denmark’s TDC will use the proceeds of its Get AS sale to slash its debts, with the telecoms company planning to repay $2.3bn-equivalent of loans by the end of this year.