Europe

The London-Shanghai Stock Connect, slated to be launched by the end of the year, has the capital market’s attention, given its vast potential. But bankers and industry associations want more clarity on the operational aspects of the link.

GlobalCapital understands UK utility company Scottish and Southern Electric (SSE) is roadshowing in the US private placement (US PP) market for £400m ($528m) equivalent offer across dollars and sterling.

A fresh Italian government bond market sell-off on Monday is unlikely to impact issuance from public sector borrowers during the rest of the week, according to SSA bankers.

There is a “convincing relationship” between risk coming from poor application of environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies, and the credit default swap (CDS) spreads of corporate issuers, according to a new report by Hermes Investment Management.

A senior fixed income syndicate banker at UniCredit has retired, GlobalCapital understands. Bankers at rival firms hailed him as “a true original and a character”.

Spain’s Soltec has signed a €100m loan from local banks, as the photovoltaic tracking equipment company furthers its global expansion.

Leveraged buyouts are making a comeback in the European high yield market in October, with the new €1.3bn note for CVC’s acquisition of Italian pharmaceutical firm Recordati the latest example.

Westwing Group, the German home and living e-commerce platform, is due to price its IPO at the middle of the range after the bookbuild was accelerated due to strong demand from investors for the stock.

BNP Paribas has appointed a new head of credit trading desk analysts for European banks, with the hire joining from MUFG Securities.

Korea Housing and Finance Corporation (KHFC) and Berlin Hyp (BHH) are lining up new covered bond deals, but the sell-off in Italian sovereign debt risks weighing on the market.

Bpifrance has made several appointments to its funding team, including a change of its head of funding.

Van Lanschot decided not to go ahead with its first additional tier one after opening books on Monday, a few days after Volksbank Wien had to postpone a similar transaction.