Europe

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In response to the European Commission’s draft covered bond directive, the European Central Bank has set out a number of recommendations that should boost the appeal of covered bonds for investors, though not necessarily with issuers.

German car leasing company Sixt has raised €200m in the Schuldschein market, part of which was sold through Helaba’s platform, VC Trade. As the market digitises, two platforms — one promoted by Helaba and one by LBBW — are pulling ahead of the pack. But three other platforms are nipping at their heels, positioning themselves where the other two find it harder to reach.

Investors in corporate speculative grade debt in Europe are returning with appetite to their desks as the summer break ends. While the primary markets have yet to reveal a clear opening pipeline of deals for September, some fund managers said there were grounds to feel confident.

SIX, an exchange company in Switzerland, is angling to take full advantage of the advent of distributed ledger technology (DLT). With its new digital asset platform, the company hopes to profit from easier securities settlement and a new method of raising capital that involves issuing cryptocurrency.

The euro senior corporate market slowed right down over the summer, but the actual break in issuance was for barely two weeks. For hybrid deals, however, it was nearly seven weeks from the last new issue to Belgian electricity grid operator Elia’s deal this week.

KfW took advantage of the stable market backdrop to issue a new €4bn seven year euro benchmark on Tuesday, but some bankers not on the mandate questioned the degree of interest in the trade.

​New regulations have uncovered heaps of data that markets are struggling to handle. But as participants discover issues exist they did not realise existed, the data revolution will result in safer and more efficient markets for all.

Equity capital markets bankers and investors are looking to five jumbo IPOs to end what has often been a frustrating 2018 on a high. The first of these deals, the floatation of supercar maker Aston Martin, began this week and the others are expected to follow quickly, write Aidan Gregory and Sam Kerr.

While Brexit negotiations continued and banks juggled their contingency plans for various outcomes, two UK corporate issuers successfully accessed the euro corporate bond market this week.

The corporate bond market started at a frantic pace on Tuesday with five deals pricing. But on Wednesday French tyre manufacturer Michelin found its patience was rewarded with a chance to dominate investors’ attention and it was able to build the largest order book for a 20 year euro tranche in 2018.

Syndicate bankers on Tuesday’s triple tranche deal from German machinery maker Siemens claimed to be the winners on a day of very competitive supply.