Europe

KfW reopened the public sector dollar market on Wednesday by picking up a hefty $4bn from a well oversubscribed book. Société de Financement Local will be next up, after mandating banks for a trade.

Swiss Re, the reinsurance group, returned to the equity-linked debt market on Wednesday with a deal that reinforced this issuer’s reputation for financial innovation: a $500m equity-neutral convertible bond that also acts as a contingent convertible security — except with more flexibility for the issuer.

A surprise sale in European auto rental company Sixt, was greeted warmly by investors and allowed the controlling Sixt family to reap some of the rewards of the company’s meteoric share price performance.

Top officials from global supervisory bodies furiously debated the implications of new European rules that change the oversight of foreign clearing houses, covering the role of central banks, national regulators and arrangements in crisis situations.

Investors in Carpetright, the UK carpet and flooring retail chain, have backed its recovery plan by subscribing in high numbers for a £60m capital raising.

French reinsurance firm CCR Re is planning to carry out a debut transaction in the bond market with a restricted tier one (RT1) deal, as other insurers also see a role for the instrument in their capital structure.

European government bond yields have climbed in the wake of an unusually hawkish turn in the tone of comments from members of the European Central Bank's governing council.

HSBC’s decision to reclassify four discounted perpetual bonds (discos) as fully eligible for tier two capital has led to holders asking for clarification and transparency from the bank. They also asked whether that eligibility status was really justified.

Commerzbank returned to the covered bond market for the fourth time this year to issue its first five year Pfandbrief since 2015, and the largest in almost four years. At the same time, Stadtsparkasse Muenchen issued a sub-benchmark Pfandbrief and Nordea Eiendomskreditt was set to issue a small five year sterling floater.

A number of corporate bond issuers are taking advice from their bankers about accessing the market, but the new issue premiums paid by Volkswagen Bank and Carrefour put them off from launching their deals on Wednesday.

The cloud which has lingered over the European IPO market since Easter, has abated slightly this week as a number of deals progressed quickly during bookbuilding. Two in particular have outperformed the rest of the market.

Financial institutions were reluctant to access the primary market on Wednesday despite having a successful new issue from JP Morgan to follow from the day before.