Europe

On Wednesday, the UK’s Institute of Directors, the organisation that represents company directors and business leaders, became the latest lobby group to voice its concern at the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposal to create a new premium listing category for sovereign-owned companies.

Friday will mark the first anniversary of the Bank of England’s announcement it would be commencing its Corporate Bond Purchase Scheme. This prompted one of the busiest Augusts on record in the sterling corporate bond market. Bankers and investors are hoping the passing of this week’s Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Thursday will provide another catalyst for summer issuance.

Göran Robertsson took over management of the debt management department of the Riksgälden, Sweden’s national debt office, on Tuesday.

Italian maker of orthopaedic implants, Limacorporate, cancelled its bond roadshow in continental Europe on Wednesday, as investor demand from its London meetings accelerated the pricing of a deal to refinance a loan with floating rate notes.

Barclays mandated its own investment bank to sell new additional tier one (AT1) notes in the sterling market this week, amid tightening subordinated spreads and little competition from other issuers.

Vakifbank has launched its second round of refinancing with its pricing 10bp lower than its $967m facility in April, mirroring Akbank’s new loan margins.

Société Générale was keen to highlight improvements in cost and risk control when reporting its earnings for the second quarter on Wednesday, but growing litigation costs and falling trading revenues cast a shadow over the group’s results announcement.

Akbank has sold its first mortgage-backed covered bond. The deal, which will fund green projects, was privately placed with the European Investment Bank.

The Czech Republic has proposed several legal amendments that will bring its existing covered bond regime into line with the European Banking Authority’s best practice guidelines and which, along with similar moves in Slovakia, will help catalyse new covered bond supply from the region.

Changes to the list of collateral eligible for repo with the Russian central bank could cause a spike in spreads on local currency bank bonds and push more lenders towards the international markets, analysts said this week.

Türk Eximbank’s second entry into the syndicated loan market this year has been a success, with 23 banks signing for $640m on Tuesday — more than double the initial size when the deal was launched in June.

Drinks refrigerator maker Frigoglass, of Greece, has received approval from the UK High Court for the proposed restructuring of its €250m of senior notes due in 2018.