Europe

The trend for green debt issuance is set to touch the US private placement (PP) market this year, bringing yet another segment of the debt capital markets within its ambit.

Puma Energy made a strong start for non-financial corporate issuers on Monday, making full use of investor familiarity with the credit — and some excess cash — to make its $750m market return.

PhosAgro, a Russian phosphate-based fertiliser company, is embarking on a series of investor meetings to market a five to seven year dollar bond.

Going into 2018, many in Europe’s equity capital markets anticipated a busy first quarter. So far those predictions have proven correct, with a rush of deals this week.

Europe’s equity linked new issue market is enjoying a busy start to the year, with four deals totalling €1.56bn priced in the past week. The latest was a Sfr300m seven year convertible bond (CB) issue by Swiss Prime Site, the property investment company.

The euro market is providing borrowers with superb execution — KfW gathered its largest ever book for a 10 year on Tuesday — but investors are requiring healthy new issue concessions in order to commit.

January’s impressive pipeline of sovereign issuance is starting to unload, as Italy and Portugal hit screens on Tuesday for their first syndications of the year.

Investcorp has hired Phil Yeates as managing director and head of European credit funds, after he had spent 24 years at Rothschild.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena’s comeback plans show that there is still a big difference between tier two and additional tier one (AT1) bonds, even after the failure of Banco Popular.

Chief executive of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Scott O’Malia on Monday said that the trade body was preparing French and Irish law governed ISDA master agreements to be “ready for all eventualities” in the wake of Brexit.

European stock markets have enjoyed a solid start to 2018, led by a metals and commodities rally that has been strengthening since the beginning of autumn. But the market must consider whether the good times are organic or due to temporary measures in China.

United Overseas Bank in Singapore was able to price a seven year euro covered bond in line with Westpac on Tuesday. Although UOB was unable to match the pricing of DBS Bank, it achieved 'remarkable traction' with second and third tier investors across Europe.