Europe

Phoenix Group has set the terms on its £950m capital raising to fund its proposed acquisition of the UK and European businesses of Standard Life Assurance from Standard Life Aberdeen.

The European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority have published a joint statement calling for a closer consideration of how retail ownership of debt could affect a bank resolution.

Europe’s corporate bond market is dry. New issuance this week is out of the question, and liquidity is patchy. Spreads are being marked wider as concerns rise about Europe’s political and economic health. But investors have not lost their nerve.

Spanish banks have become embroiled in a bond sell-off this week amid a looming political crisis in Italy. But investors have yet to change their minds about the country’s financial institutions, which have been in hot demand for over of a year.

DNB is preparing to issue its first green covered bond, the proceeds of which will be used to fund the most energy efficient residential mortgages in Norway. The prospective deal has been structured in line with the Green Bond Principles and will be endorsed by Sustainalytics.

Fears over Italy’s political woes spilling over into a full-blown eurozone crisis eased on Wednesday morning, as investors welcomed news that another round of elections could be avoided.

High yield and leveraged loan issuance was almost at a standstill this week amid worries about the eurozone, but some fund managers were calling for borrowers to be braver.

Uncertainty over Italy’s political future has sunk a second Italian IPO in a fortnight, as Estra, the Italian utilities company, decided to postpone its initial public offering until markets calm.

Turkish assets have performed this week after a long period of weakness with two emerging markets portfolio managers saying that the worst of the volatility in the lira exchange rate may have passed.

BC Partners has completed the first selldown of shares in Sabre Insurance, the UK specialist insurer, since its £287m flotation on the London Stock Exchange in December.

Jitters around Italy’s political turmoil made its way to Asia’s bond and stock markets on Wednesday, forcing debt capital markets bankers in the region to hit the pause button on deals.

The London-Shanghai Stock Connect appears to be finally taking shape after several years in the making. But with the dollar beating the renminbi and the pound to become the link’s major trading and settlement currency, the scheme looks increasingly skewed towards investors in the US rather than those in the UK and Europe.