Europe

Green covered bonds have been slow to take off, but the greater flexibility offered by European Secured Notes (ESNs) should have broader appeal for borrowers and investors alike.

Steven Halperin, co-head of EMEA equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, is leaving that job and will return to the US, to a different role at Barclays. He is already spending more of his time in the US.

The European Investment Bank is set to take a novel approach to green bond issuance, after mandating for a dual tranche dollar deal — of which only one leg is a Climate Awareness Bond. Like Kommuninvest, which printed a four year dollar green bond on Tuesday, the supranational may have to contend with volatile dollar swap spreads.

Senior bank debt investors in Europe are losing their right to accelerate payments of interest or principal. The process has been gradual, low key and at times even overlooked, but it is one of the most fundamental developments in the recent history of the senior bond market.

The UK drew its largest ever book as it printed its biggest syndication in nominal terms in nearly three years on Tuesday — taking care of nearly a quarter of its overall syndication programme for the 2017-18 financial year in the process. Bankers away from the trade suggested some of the rampant demand may be due to investor hunger for 40 year paper.

Corporate bond issuers surged into the primary market again on Tuesday, with investors begrudgingly accepting that premiums look likely get even smaller before growing again.

The European Financial Stability Facility is lining up a 16 year euro benchmark for Wednesday, following a blow-out €7bn 30 year OAT.

GIC, one of Singapore’s two sovereign wealth funds, has sold a chunk of the stake in UBS it acquired before the financial crisis, through a mandated block trade led by UBS’s own investment bank.

Société Générale started marketing its a non-preferred senior transaction in yen on Tuesday, as French banks flood back to calmer markets following Emmanuel Macron’s victory in the country’s presidential election.

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM) and Wells Fargo both dipped their toes into the euro market on Tuesday, as the banks spied a golden opportunity to walk away with longer dated senior funding at very attractive costs.

After adding more green loans to its cover pool, Berlin Hyp (BHH) is now ready to return to the Pfandbrief market and on Tuesday mandated leads for a roadshow ahead of its second green mortgage-backed deal.

Bpifrance, the French state-owned investment bank, has exited Eiffage, the construction and engineering group, after selling its remaining stake in a €428m block trade that was covered inside half an hour.