Europe

The Belgian Debt Agency announced on Monday that it would issue its first green OLO in the near future, after a roadshow that begins on Thursday February 8. This fulfils a plan announced by prime minister Charles Michel at the One Planet Summit in December.

Since Greece’s debt exchange operation in November, market participants have been expecting a return either at three years or seven years. Monday’s mandate brought the answer.

Investors who financed bearish European equity positions with US short volatility strategies have been burned as the S&P 500 continued its downward trend on Monday, and realised volatility spiked.

Koenig & Bauer, the German printing press maker, has made its debut in the syndicated loan market, agreeing facilities totalling up to €400m from eight banks.

Some loans bankers are looking forward to a wave of consolidation in the telecoms sector, as Vodafone said it was in talks with Virgin Media owner Liberty Global to buy some of the US company’s European assets.

Algeco Scotsman, the US storage group owned by TDR Capital, is talking to investors about sweetening the terms of its new high yield bond issue, due to be priced on Monday afternoon.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever has become known in the corporate bond markets for its multiple tranche deals. On Monday it announced its third such trade in the last three years and investors showed they still have plenty of appetite for the name, helping the company print its largest ever deal.

Novares, the French plastic car parts maker, has begun bookbuilding for its rebooted €260m initial public offering on Euronext Paris.

Deutsche Apotheker-und Aerztebank (apoBank) has mandated joint leads for a seven year Pfandbrief. It follows one of the busiest starts to the covered bond market in years. With a more limited supply outlook spreads should stay stable for now. But with yields rising and relative value declining, core European borrowers will become ever more reliant on the Eurosystem to support their deals.

West Bromwich Building Society (WBBS) plans to replace existing notes with core capital deferred shares (CCDS), becoming the latest building society to opt for the instrument.

The US Treasury has said that Russia’s bond market is too important to global financial stability to sanction under Directive 1, which is the “most positive scenario for Russian financial instruments,” according to analysis by Danske Bank.

FIG issuers decided against launching new deals on Monday, as market participants predicted that a recent bout of volatility could be the start of a longer term trend.