Europe

Kommunalkredit, which recently had its public sector covered bonds rated A with S&P, has received positive investor feedback whilst marketing its social covered bond this week.

Multi-tranche deals have been the issuance strategy of choice this week in the corporate bond market. Six of the seven issuers who have brought deals to the European markets in the first three days of this week have opted for such structures, and Reckitt Benckiser is expected to add its name to that list.

Orange, the French telecoms company, sold a third of its stake in UK peer BT Group on Monday night through a block trade and used another third to back an exchangeable bond in an attempt to “take a balanced approach when reducing its exposure”, a banker on the deal said.

Allied Irish Banks has narrowed the price range on its IPO, having attracted a strong response from investors. The flotation is now likely to raise €3.1bn at the upper end of the range.

Deutsche Telekom and a group of shareholders in Scout24, the digital classified advertising group, are in the market this evening to sell a possible €341.4m stake.

Andritz, the Austrian machinery maker, raised €400m in a dual tranche Schuldschein transaction this week. The large size — with tenors of seven and 10 years — illustrates commercial banks' growing willingness to lend for long.

The charging of four Barclays executives and the group itself on Tuesday after a UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation might, at last, satisfy the public desire to see bankers banged up. But it’s hard to see what else it will achieve.

The eurozone could be strengthened by the addition of a “small fiscal capability” to deal with economic shocks, one of its leading financial officials said in a panel at Euromoney Global Borrowers' forum on Tuesday, as attention turns to reforming the eurozone — a cause championed by Emmanuel Macron, France’s new president.

The European Association of Clearing Houses (EACH) has responded to a European Commission report on fintech, supporting a move to distributed ledger technologies.

Coentreprise de Transport d’Electricité made a statement with its inaugural bond issue on Tuesday. The holding company for the French power grid company achieved its aim of raising €2.92bn in three tranches, achieving greater size with the longer bonds.

British Telecommunications brought its second triple tranche euro bond transaction in 16 months on Tuesday. The orderbooks were heavily oversubscribed, with demand skewed toward the longest tranche.

Arabtec Holding, the United Arab Emirates’ largest listed construction firm, said on Tuesday its rights issue was fully subscribed, raising Dh1.5bn ($408m) for a recapitalisation.