Europe

Douglas, the German retailer, launched a refinancing of a €1.37bn seven year term loan ‘B’ on Tuesday, as the firm comes out of soft call protection from its last repricing in mid-2016.

HSBC has hired a new global head of account coverage within its financial sponsors group, following its reorganisation of the division last year.

The German real estate lender, Aareal Bank, has mandated leads for a euro-denominated five year German mortgage-backed covered bond.

The French issuer, Axa Bank, has launched a sub benchmark covered bond with a 15 year maturity which closely matches the long dated assets on its balance sheet. This deal is likely to be the last deal under the present structure of its covered bond programme.

Slovenia is on track to become the first central and eastern European sovereign to tap the bond markets this year after announcing price for a dual tranche euro deal on Tuesday morning.

Royal Bank of Canada is set to become the first covered bond issuer in Canada to join the Covered Bond Label initiative.

Transport finance specialist DVB Bank profited from strong primary market dynamics by adding a second German senior benchmark to the list of trades printed this week, as syndicate bankers advised taking advantage of market conditions before earnings season begins in earnest.

UK insurer Phoenix Group Holdings tightened pricing by nearly 40bp on Monday for the first ever Solvency II compliant tier three bond in sterling, as investors appeared keen to take on more bonds in the rarely used format.

The Republic of Poland is looking to become the first repeat sovereign issuer of Panda bonds as it seeks to raise Rmb3bn ($435m) this year.

The economic growth of the last five years is great for Romania, but is just the beginning, said Dacian Cioloş, Prime Minister of Romania, at an event in Bucharest organised by the Ministry of Public Finance and GlobalCapital. The country has to translate growth into development, to redress the inequalities between richer and poorer classes and regions. That means building a more productive, high value added economy, with investment in research and innovation; fighting corruption; improving governance at state companies; making the public administration more efficient; and stronger education and training. Above all, Romania must focus on generating prosperity for the younger generation.

Romania is in its best shape, economically, for a decade. With the budget deficit under control and employment growing, the prospects look bright, argued Anca Dragu, Minister of Public Finance, at an event in Bucharest organised by the ministry and GlobalCapital. The government is striving to make the public finances more transparent, with granular details of spending and revenue published online, and is trying to simplify taxation and cut red tape. Risks include Brexit, domestic demand outstripping supply and bottlenecks slowing down the process of reform and investment.

Europe must take the wake-up call of the UK referendum seriously, argued Germany’s Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, at a high level meeting in Bucharest organised by the Romanian Ministry of Public Finance and GlobalCapital.