Europe

Whitbread, the UK hospitality group, has announced the demerger of Costa Coffee, one of the biggest coffee chains in the UK.

Mining company Polymetal has converted an existing $80m bilateral credit facility with ING into a sustainability-linked loan. It is the first loan market activity from Russia since the US announced a fresh round of sanctions against some of the country’s oligarchs.

Falling US stock markets is making IPO sellers nervous about the number of new listings in the market. Volatility damaged flotations in a similarly busy market before Easter and sellers will hope the downturn is short.

Eastern European low cost airline Wizz Air has received its first ever credit rating, a likely precursor to a bond issue.

One piece of information all parties focus on for new corporate bonds is the premium the issuer pays. For much of last year and the early part of this, the premium at any given time was broadly applied across all new issues, but investors have forced syndicates to be more precise in what over what individual issuers pay.

Investors were relieved to hear on Wednesday that Lloyds Bank had no plans to cancel its "iredeemable" preference shares at par, but those invested in the market are fixed on clarifying their position under UK law.

Société Générale has appointed new sales heads for Asia Pacific and Europe within its global markets division, according to a press release on Wednesday.

The moribund dollar covered bond market is set for a renaissance as the cost advantage compared with other currencies and other sources of wholesale funding has improved. Issuers ought to be renewing alternative sources of demand.

More than €3.5bn of high yield bond deals in euros, sterling and dollars were scheduled to close this week. Although some bankers described the pipeline as “crowded”, they expected market digestion to be ‘healthy’ ahead of quieter times.

Kommunalbanken has circulated initial price thoughts of 5bp area over mid-swaps for a no-grow $1bn three year benchmark, a level that bankers away from the trade said was 'well priced'.

Abeo, the French producer of sports and leisure equipment, has issued its first Euro private placement note. The rarity of the sector, as well as the small intended volume, meant the leads could push for tighter pricing and more attractive terms.

Sok Marketler, the Turkish discount grocer, has set the range on its Istanbul IPO, valuing it at Tl6.9bn (1.7bn) to Tl8.3bn ($2.05bn).