Europe

US private placement issuers are regularly selecting more than one agent to arrange a transaction, forcing fees down and arranging standards to slip, according to two agents.

Renminbi bullishness has served Luxembourg well. The tiny country has enjoyed substantial China-related fund flows in 2017, largely thanks to a wider offering of investments, Marc Andre Bechet, director of legal and tax at the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (Alfi), told GlobalRMB.

The first meeting of the Central Banks’ and Supervisors’ Network for Greening the Financial System has broadened the emphasis of the group’s work from a focus on climate change to one on climate and the environment.

Alstria, the German REIT, sold 15.3m new shares through an accelerated bookbuild, after the close of trading on Monday night, to finance the acquisition of two new properties in Hamburg and Stuttgart and the settlement of a convertible bond.

US lottery and gaming group Scientific Games International sold its first euro bonds this week, in a European high yield market that bankers and investors described as ready and steady for opposite reasons.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Municipality Finance announced sterling transactions for Tuesday, making this January a remarkably busy one for the currency.

Kommunalbanken has announced a dollar floater trade to launch on Tuesday, just ahead of the Federal Open Markets Committee’s rate decision on Wednesday.

A trio of Europe’s less frequent public sector borrowers are set to hit screens for euro transactions on Tuesday, following a long end benchmark from a French agency on January 26.

La Banque Postale (LBP) managed to find good demand for a 10 year covered bond on Monday even though the spread to OATs has tightened and could become problematic.

A report published by the UK House of Lords on Saturday encouraged the government to “resist” new European Commission measures to relocate systemically important clearing houses in London to EU member states.

Dutch energy distributor Alliander announced plans for a new euro hybrid on Monday, alongside a tender offer for the company’s outstanding hybrid. The issuer’s ratings could allow it to set a new low for the product's pricing.

Bankinter followed last week’s blow out sovereign issue from the Kingdom of Spain to launch a covered bond on Monday. With an unreconciled order book of €1.6bn and little price sensitivity, the offering contrasted starkly to earlier peripheral covered bonds seen this year.