Europe

VodafoneZiggo completed a bumper refinancing deal on Wednesday as several other leveraged finance borrowers came to market with euro deals, relentlessly pushing the market's repricing trend further.

Schroders this week launched a global high yield fund with US exposure, while BNP Paribas IP announced it will reduce holdings of US corporate high yield bonds.

Santander has become the first Spanish lender to raise non-preferred senior debt, even though Spanish law cannot yet accommodate the new asset class. The bank paid a small premium, and took an important early step towards its sizeable senior target for total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC).

Akbank plans to launch the first of its semi-annual one year refinancings early next week in the loan market’s first chance this year to gauge appetite for Turkish risk, but there is already a clear indication already that longer tenors will be challenging.

Following Lloyds Bank's creation of the "CB markets" division, combining trading with capital markets origination, James Garvey, the division’s boss, has laid out the management team for the new structure.

Detsky Mir, the Russian toy retailer, has announced the price range for its Moscow IPO, which could value the business at up to Rb77.6bn ($1.3bn).

Russia’s Rusal was on track to print the first corporate bond from the region of 2017 on Thursday but with 13 banks on the trade, the pricing debate was proving to be furious.

MUFG has hired two directors in its leveraged finance team in London, following the appointment of a new head of loan syndications last year.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena issued €7bn of state-guaranteed bonds this week, as the ailing Italian lender looked to sure up its funding position ahead of an expected “precautionary recapitalisation”.

A trio of issuers brought deals across the short end of the dollar curve on Wednesday, adding to what one SSA syndicate head described as the “ideal January”. Supply looks to have dimmed for now, with no deals on screen for Thursday and Chinese New Year holidays next week likely to halt benchmark issuance, but bankers believe conditions are so hot that arbitrage deals or floating rate notes could still break through.

Shares in Novartis closed 2.5% higher on Wednesday after it delivered its full year results presentation, in which it announced a share buyback programme and said it was considering options for its struggling eye care division Alcon, which makes contact lenses and eye medicines.

Deal after deal has hit screens in euros this week as issuers from all across the public sector spectrum printed in maturities from five to 30 years.