Europe

The auto finance arm of General Motors opted for shorter maturities to try to ensure the success of its first bond sale of 2018 on Monday. But the €1bn dual-tranche deal only received orders of €1.7bn and the lead managers were only able to tighten one of the tranches from initial price thoughts.

The IPO of Elkem, the Norwegian silicon producer and supplier being floated by ChemChina, priced on Wednesday at Nkr29 ($6.74) a share, the bottom of the expected range.

Russian gold miner Nordgold and coal company Siberian Coal Energy Co (suek) signed syndicated loans in the week leading up to Vladimir Putin’s victory in the Russian general elections.

Aareal Bank mandated leads for a six year Pfandbrief on Monday, amid evidence that the European Central Bank has started to cut back orders for the covered bond purchase programme (CBPP3).

HSBC came to the market on Monday with two tranches of additional tier one (AT1) capital, and announced initial price thoughts with a hefty new issue premium. Spain's Ibercaja Banco also announced a mandate for the instrument in euros.

A book of $7.5bn suggests investors had few qualms about investing in Russia’s $4bn Eurobond, despite unusual clauses contained in the documentation, which has been designed to explicitly help wealthy Russians circumvent future sanctions.

Many equity investors are still keen on Russian equities, despite the growing political tension between the country and the UK.

The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has warned his international colleagues that while “crypto-assets do not pose risks to financial stability” now, this could change should the asset class become more “interconnected” with the regulated financial system.

Analysts expect the iTraxx Europe indices will widen when IHS Markit issues series 29 this week, as the indices will for the first time reference French non-preferred senior bonds in place of ordinary senior unsecured obligations.

US exchange operator Chicago Mercantile Exchange is considering acquiring post-trade and markets operator Nex Group, the latter firm confirmed in a circular to investors on Thursday night.

A second block sale of stock in Takeaway.com, the Dutch online food ordering marketplace, was warmly received by investors on Thursday night and attracted substantial anchor orders.

Europe's equity capital markets breathed a sigh of relief on Friday, as shares in Siemens Healthineers, the healthcare technology division of Siemens, rose 7% after it began trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.