Europe

At a panel discussion this week, a partner at Cinven said investors should trust sponsors to act responsibly, despite protection for debt investors disappearing in deal documentation.

In contrast with its US counterpart this week, the Bank of England elected to keep its base interest rate on hold at 0.25% at its meeting on Thursday. However, the vote was closer than expected and the circling hawks caused a sell-off in Gilts.

VIP Turkey Enerji, a subsidiary of oil and commodity company Vitol, has signed a $700m syndicated loan with 14 banks to finance the acquisition of Petrol Ofisi, Turkey’s largest oil distribution company.

VFS Global, the visa and passport services division of Kuoni, allocated its euro and sterling loan refinancing package this week, after increasing the euro offering and tightening pricing on both tranches.

The double whammy of the US Federal Reserve meeting and a public holiday across parts of Europe slammed the brakes on an already slow week of corporate bond issuance on Thursday. However, bankers are confident that the last few weeks of June will go out with a bang rather than a whimper.

Recently de-merged Kommunalkredit Austria (KA) has mandated leads to roadshow the first social covered bond ever to be issued from a public sector programme, and the first green bond from Austria. Rated Baa2, it is also set to be one of the weakest credits in the covered bond universe.

The mystery of the European high yield paradox grew this week as investors began tucking into €4.5bn of new bonds amid all-time low yields. Yet they face a puzzlingly thin deal pipeline for the second half of the year. But dormant borrowers are starting to wake up to the joys of primary, said bankers and lawyers.

China Three Gorges Corp sealed its inaugural offshore green bond on Wednesday, raising €650m from a seven year deal. The notes were sold at a tight spread, with bankers saying that the “European style” execution was due to strong demand from investors.

Yapi Kredi raised $500m with a seven year senior bond on Wednesday, bringing the total of Turkish bank issuance so far this year to $5.3bn.

Belarus will hit the road next week for a dual tranche dollar offering, in what could be its first successful attempt to access the market since 2011. Its economy is expected to contract 0.5% in 2017.

Standard Chartered has hired Clare Francis to be regional head of global banking, Europe. The former Lloyds banker will run its corporate and financial institution business in the region.

Hydropower company China Three Gorges Corp raised €650m from its inaugural offshore green bond, pricing it inside theoretical fair value. The issuer has a natural need for euros, and its deal, unlike most notes sold in the currency by Mainland issuers, was executed in a “European style” due to strong demand, said bankers.