Europe

The UK government has waded into Melrose’s hostile bid for engineering firm GKN, seeking assurances from the industrial conglomerate that it plans to protect UK jobs should the deal go ahead, in the latest hurdle for the £7bn-plus debt-financed acquisition.

JD Sports, the UK athletic wear company, has agreed a new revolving credit facility underwritten by existing relationship banks Barclays and HSBC, to finance its $558m acquisition of the US’s Finish Line.

France announced on Tuesday that it will come to market for an 18 year inflation linked benchmark, making the most of a pre-Easter lull in issuance.

This week has not looked like anyone’s ideal opportunity for issuing corporate bonds in Europe, especially a challenging debut hybrid with a speculative grade rating. But Akelius, the Swedish housing company, saw a chance and pushed ahead.

Galliford Try, the UK construction company, has revealed the terms for the £157m ($221.1m) rights issue which it announced in mid-February to cover the costs of Carillion’s collapse.

Michelin, the French tyre maker, has got a £1.2bn bridge loan underwritten and arranged by Morgan Stanley to finance its purchase of UK industrial belting manufacturer Fenner.

This week is a tale of two IPOs and how sellers react to the market volatility. One seller has decided to pull a deal that no longer made financial sense, while another has chosen to resize its IPO to get it done.

Spain’s Ibercaja Banco sold an additional tier one (AT1) bond with a 7% coupon on Tuesday, making it the highest yielding bank capital instrument in the euro market.

European levfin investors are optimistic as the market heads into the Easter break, with buyers enjoying better pricing and terms even as issuers prepare to launch a fresh bout of speculative grade paper over the next few weeks.

The International Finance Corp hopes to stimulate green bond issuance by governments and companies — as well as the banks it already works with — through advising issuers and a new investment fund.

The Bundesbank has expressed profound concern about whether the contingent convertible capital securities (CoCos) issued by banks can absorb losses effectively and fulfil their intended purpose.

After months of posturing, pan-European securities watchdog ESMA came down hard on "speculative" retail derivatives, restricting or banning products for three months.