Europe

Two more IPOs of significant size were announced this week in Western Europe, and with four weeks to go until the start of the Easter holidays, they are likely to be the last of this IPO season to be launched.

Poland played a smart hand on Thursday to lock in €1.5bn of funding in the midst of a healthy risk-on market, but with risk events on the horizon, Poland’s deputy finance minister told GlobalCapital he was happy to be on the “safe side”.

Lenders flocked to join two Turkish bank refinancing deals this week, with a bump in pricing following political turmoil in the country.

Investors have displayed an insatiable appetite for corporate debt during the last few weeks, so it has taken some bankers by surprise that tumbleweed rather than deals was all that rolled through the market on Thursday.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday voted to keep its base rate at 0.25%, but a dissenting voice and a hawkish tone to the minutes have caused a Gilt sell-off at the short end.

Netherlands-based telecoms firm Altice, one of the European leveraged finance market’s leading issuers, held a lender call at 3pm London time on Thursday for €1.6bn of loan refinancings in euros, and more in dollars.

CVC this week set pricing on a Z2.7bn ($661m) loan that finances its acquisition of Polish supermarket Żabka Polska. The banks will have their first syndication call on Friday.

French recycling firm Paprec and US Reit Medical Properties followed the path trodden by other eight issuers this week, entering the high yield market on Tuesday and pricing their deals after short roadshows.

While low oil prices have caused financial problems for many borrowers in the Nordic high yield market, the opposite has been true for the unrated Finnish airline Finnair, which will open a roadshow for a sub-benchmark sized offering on Friday.

WL Bank took advantage of strong funding conditions — and a reverse enquiry — to issue a tightly priced 20 year public sector backed Pfandbrief on Thursday, the longest covered bond from Germany this year. The transaction follows the announcement of plans to merge the cover pools of WL Bank and DG Hyp.

BNP Paribas Fortis issued Belgium’s first covered bond of the year on Thursday, taking advantage of the strong market conditions that followed Dutch elections to price a €500m seven year with a tiny new issue concession.

Cerba has increased its buyout term loan to €794m after dropping a planned bond. It is the second successive large cap buyout this year in which that has happened.