Europe

Italian banks will no longer need to have a minimum capital base of €250m to issue covered bonds. That suggests potential for an expansion of the market without relying on a multi-issuer framework where banks would pool assets to reach a benchmark size of €500m.

HSS Hire Group, the recovering UK tool hire company, has signed £245m of loans, as the clamour for sterling debt shows little sign of abating amid a bumper second quarter for loans in the currency.

Danske Bank and CNP Assurances both looked set to execute benchmark deals in the most risky form of debt they could respectively offer on Wednesday, as financial institutions look to clear out a backlog of deals in a shaky market.

Investors with a green mandate flocked to KBC Bank’s first green senior unsecured transaction, which was more than three times subscribed and priced flat to its curve.

Investment company AllianceBernstein says it is focused on the development of the AT1 market beyond the large European banks, as it launched a new financials fund.

The IPO market seems to have turned a corner this month, with deals pricing well and often trading up in the secondary market. But the lacklustre performance of many of May’s big name listings shows how difficult it is to get buyers to change their minds on individual deals.

German pharmaceutical company Bayer's $15bn and €5bn issuance this week provided the first big M&A related issuance the euro investment grade corporate bond market has seen for three months. However, following a court ruling in the US on AT&T's planned acquisition of Time Warner, there is likely to be more to come. Investors are aware of the need for careful analysis however.

A parade of deals and jumbo offerings marched through the European leveraged finance markets this week, matching a buoyant mood among investors.

Turkey’s Sasa Polyester is on track to take out a €231m export credit agency-backed loan to build a new facility in its home country.

Nordea followed the path Danske Bank took a few weeks ago by turning to Swedish kronor for senior non-preferred debt on Tuesday, soon after its inaugural euro transaction in the instrument.

BMC Software, the US IT firm, has revealed the loan leg of the funding for its leveraged buyout by KKR, a $4.4bn facility in dollars and euros. It is the first multi-billion leveraged loan deal for four weeks, after a battery of large offerings early in May.

German pharmaceutical company Bayer delivered on its plans to raise more than €20bn in senior bonds with an eight tranche dollar deal on Monday and a four tranche euro transaction on Tuesday. The dollar deal was three times oversubscribed and the euro deal nearly 4.5 times.