Europe

Shares in Arena Events Group, the UK supplier of temporary structures to festivals and sporting events such as Wimbledon and Glastonbury, closed 4.5% above their IPO price on Tuesday after the company made its debut on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

Greece’s return to bond issuance on Tuesday drew praise from bankers across the SSA sector, who are now eagerly waiting to see whether the book — much smaller than its previous comeback bond in April 2014 — trumps that older deal for quality.

Some may question whether Greece should have waited until after the summer before bringing its second comeback bond in three years, but the issuer and the banks should be applauded for a job well done. Now the focus must turn to debt relief.

Covered bond issuers in Europe’s periphery should wake up to the fact that current spread levels are artificially tight and unsustainable. The first bank that recognises and takes advantage of this will have a distinct advantage over its competitors.

Hannam & Partners, the investment banking boutique founded by Ian Hannam, has hired two experienced equity analysts to cover the mining and oil and gas industries.

Michael Kors, the US luxury fashion company, has signed a £1.115bn bridge facility for its £896m acquisition of UK competitor Jimmy Choo from majority shareholder JAB Luxury, the retail holding company of the Reimann family.

The ECB stimulus has likely contributed to a flow of borrowers and buyers entering the Schuldschein market, as downward pressure on spreads has forced lenders to look further for yield. But with talk of ECB tapering, some fear that the international investors who drove up volumes will return to more traditional stomping grounds. But these investors will be more faithful than it might seem.

After Monday’s British flavour to corporate bond issuance, German property company, Grand City Properties, and French food services company, Sodexo, brought deals to the market on Tuesday. Grand City printed a €600m nine year new issue and Sodexo tapped its €600m 0.75% April 2027 deal for €200m.

FMS Wertmanagement nipped into a quiet dollar market on Tuesday, pricing a five year global benchmark flat to its curve after taking the unusual step of jumping 2bp from opening guidance in one step.

Bankers speaking to GlobalCapital seemed unable to make up their minds about how the second half of the year will play out in the European high yield market. But they agreed that deals in the works for September will bring little challenge for investors.

Rotterdam-headquartered drinks bottle maker Refresco is set to issue over €2bn-equivalent of loans following its $1.25bn acquisition of US drinks firm Cott’s bottling business.

Although Obbligazioni Bancarie Garantite (OBG) supply has been limited this year, the universe of borrowers is set to expand as Fitch assigned a rating to a programme for Banco di Desio e della Brianza’s (Desio) in the expectation of a €500m deal.