Europe

Shipping company Irish Continental Group has signed an €80m financing facility with the European Investment Bank, with the financing coming soon after the company announced a spate of committed and uncommitted loans totaling €608m-equivalent. The ship it finances will be the largest cruise ferry in the world.

Finnvera is set to bring a deal in what has become a rare tenor in dollars, after mandating banks on Tuesday for a five year Reg S/144A benchmark.

Erste Group and Caffil found good demand for their covered bonds that were respectively issued in the six and 20 year tenors on Tuesday. But neither deal was straightforward, according to leads, who noted that overnight market volatility had weighed on sentiment.

EPP, a Polish real estate investment company, postponed its five year euro bond on Monday despite having gone as far as to set the yield for the deal. The company blamed adverse market conditions, while bankers away from the deal were divided as to whether anything could or should have been done differently by the leads.

The recent swings in the sovereign, supranational and agency bond market due to political turmoil in Italy suggest issuers will have to change the way they execute deals in the coming months. Elsewhere, eyes are still trained on the European Central Bank’s tapering plans, while rising dollar yields are failing to attract SSA investors. Jasper Cox reports.

Amigo Holdings, the UK guarantor consumer lender, has set the range on its London IPO, valuing it at between £1.1bn and £1.4bn.

Four companies involved in clearing said on Tuesday they had completed a proof of concept using distributed ledger technology that they said will make margin calls for derivatives more efficient.

International Game Technology is readying its comeback to bond issuance, seeking funding for a partial tender offer for two 2020 euro notes. Europe’s primary high yield market was back in action, too, but investors warn renewed talk of trade war between the US and China could disrupt the market.

Investec Asset Management has hired Juliet Lim as a senior investment specialist for its emerging market fixed income team in London.

Terms have been set on the £1bn rights issue of DS Smith, the UK packaging company, to fund its acquisition of Spanish rival Europac.

UK car parts maker TI Group Automotive Systems, owned by Bain Capital, wants out of the high yield bond market and is planning to redeem its only issue by increasing its term loans.

Safran, the French aerospace and defence company, has returned to the equity-linked market with a €700m convertible bond due in June 2023.