Europe

Vakifbank has privately placed its third Turkish lira denominated covered bond to international investment banks. The deals, which provided competitive long-term funding and came in response to onerous swaps market regulation, are likely to be mimicked by Turkey’s other main lenders.

The Euro private placement market might lose some of its smaller borrowers to crowdfunding and technology platforms that offer low cost, speedy loans, market participants observe. But not all in the Euro PP market are gloomy about it.

Hammerson, the UK property company, has agreed terms on a new £1.5bn three year credit facility, which it will use to refinance the debt of acquisition target Intu and lower its interest payment costs.

Thursday saw two UK corporate issuers return to the sterling market after notable absences. Southern Gas Networks had not issued for more than two years, while the recently renamed Optivo Finance had been away for five years.

Fairfax Financial Holdings, the Canadian holding company of a number of insurers and reinsurers around the world, has announced a roadshow for a deal in euros.

Belfius sold €200m of callable tier two bonds on Monday in a deal that it said would "contribute to an optimal capital structure" for the bank.

Deutsche Pfandbriefbank’s (PBB) decision to issue a five year covered bond this week, instead of the more usual staple of seven or eight year deals, meant it was able to issue in a larger than normal size and pay little new issue premium.

Goldman Sachs became the latest issuer to offer investors a short-dated floating rate bond on Thursday, and the first US bank to issue in euros this year.

Piraeus Bank's Project Amoeba is one of the first secured Greek NPL portfolios to hit the market, and will serve as a crucial benchmark for pricing on the remaining €100bn of NPLs to come. Meanwhile, the other major banks are selling unsecured books.

Investors this week showered orders on to the first bond issue from Teva Pharmaceuticals since a recent downgrade to high yield ratings. The hook? A 50bp-100bp premium over its old bonds in the secondary market.

Index provider Limeyard said on Wednesday it had entered into a partnership with the Vienna Stock Exchange under which they will develop indices together.

Bond clearing house Euroclear intends to move its holding company from the UK to Belgium as it prepares for the “risks” posed by the UK’s departure from the European Union.