Europe

BMW and Daimler reopened Europe's corporate bond market on Thursday in emphatic style, reminiscent of the market's usual reopenings after Christmas, when car companies often take the lead. Such a clear and classical restart to issuance, this early in August, is unusual.

Belfius told investors on Thursday to expect a €500m deal size for its new five year senior bond, one of eight such deals in the euro market this week.

Deutsche Bank opened books on its first ever preferred senior deal on Thursday, joining Berlin Hyp and Commerzbank in christening the product this week.

On Thursday Intesa Sanpaolo become the first Italian bank to issue an unsecured bond since April, but it paid up to do so. It has led the way for the country’s banks in terms of issuance this year, having already printed both the first unsecured bond and the first covered bond since the general election.

Sunstone Capital, the Danish venture capital firm, sold its final stake in Swedish e-commerce firm Boozt on Wednesday, its third sale of shares since the firm’s IPO in May 2017.

Polish bank mBank is embarking on a roadshow to market the first euro denominated international public bond from the CEEMEA region in over a month, and the first since Turkey’s currency crisis triggered a wave of selling across emerging market debt.

Panic has gripped Turkey's markets, sending investors scuttling. Luckily, the loan market has proved once again that it is capable of providing much needed cool heads amid the sea of red on screens this summer.

Japan telecoms company SoftBank took another step towards its flotation this week by replacing its intergroup credit with a double-B rated leveraged loan. This followed a high-yield bond sale in April with the same purpose.

Sberbank is merging its corporate banking and Sberbank CIB divisions and plans to complete the integration by the end of 2018, with deputy chairman Anatoly Popov heading the combined entity.

Russia’s Mechel has signed a $1bn-equivalent loan facility, as the metals and mining group pushes ahead with plans to restructure its debt portfolio by the end of 2018.

KommuneKredit took a careful approach to its first benchmark deal since losing its triple-A rating with S&P. It found a good reception after starting with a wider initial pricing level.

Mediobanca could look to buy an advisory boutique in its quest to become a pan-European corporate finance house, writes David Rothnie.