Europe

Agence Française de Développement has placed a €205m clip maturing in 2037, exceeding the length of its previous longest trade in the currency by five years.

Two more public sector borrowers are set to add to the flurry of socially responsible investments dominating the upcoming SSA pipeline late in the year.

NRW.Bank brought a large sterling bond this week that was more than doubly subscribed, in what was a “great outcome”, according to bankers away from the trade. The deal came as the UK Debt Management Office picked the tenor for its next syndication.

In an otherwise quiet week with many companies in corporate close periods, there were two large equity block trades on Monday night, in Moncler, the Italian designer of luxury coats and jackets, and VAT Group, the Swiss maker of vacuum valves.

The IPO market in Europe lost some of its vigour this week, as several deals traded badly in the aftermarket, raising fears that deal quality is deteriorating and pricing is being pushed too far, writes Aidan Gregory.

The growth in passive asset management has been one of the biggest trends in equity markets over the past decade. Savers are constantly told passive funds are a much cheaper way to buy the market than active asset managers, who try to beat the market. The logic of that is questionable, but as Jon Hay reports, new research from UBS suggests active managers are outperforming — in Europe, at least.

After a stream of successful repricings in the leveraged loan market this week, French call centre operator Webhelp is set to refinance its term loans for the second time this year and could shave a further 25bp off its financing costs, according to sources.

The embattled chief executive of Deutsche Börse, Carsten Kengeter, has resigned after a multi-million euro settlement over alleged insider trading was thrown out by Frankfurt's local court on Monday.

Goshawk, the Irish aircraft lessor, is returning to the Schuldschein market, a year after its $95m debut last October. While borrowers seeking dollar Schuldscheine are few and far between, the product is growing popular among Asian lenders with natural dollar needs — which might spark the interest of a wider range of borrowers.

Korean Housing Finance Corp (KHFC) enjoyed a strong reception for a five year covered bond this week. But the fact the deal was priced 25bp inside initial price talk yet still offered triple the pick-up to Canadian deals compared with last year, suggested a degree of uncertainty in the price discovery process.

Credit Europe Bank NV (CEB) announced on Thursday that it was mandating banks for a dollar deal, calling an outstanding bond, and spinning off its Russian subsidiary.

Europe moved one step closer to having uniform rules permitting the issuance of non-preferred senior bonds this week, after the European Commission, Council and Parliament reached an agreement on creditor hierarchies.