Europe

As many as eight covered bonds were launched across three currencies this week, the vaguely discernible pattern suggesting better interest for the larger deals with intermediate maturities and particularly those from non-eurozone issuers where liquidity is most likely to be better.

UK premium car maker Jaguar Land Rover on Thursday sold its first euro bond at one of the lowest coupons seen in the high yield market in the last two years.

The market for medium term notes is expected to come to life over the next few weeks after a subdued start to 2017, with some bankers and issuers touting floating rate notes as the next big thing.

The week's heavy pace of investment grade corporate bond supply extended into Thursday, as lower rated issuers dominated deal flow and crossover names thrived.

The sterling high yield bond market on Thursday sent a message of confidence to issuers as UK telecoms firm TalkTalk increased its £300m unsecured bond on the back of heavy demand.

Calum Macphail has joined Legal & General Investment Management as its head of corporate private credit, three months after leaving M&G Investments.

Barratt Developments, the UK home builder, has lengthened the tenor of a revolving credit facility by two years.

European investment banks are running out of excuses. The legacy issues that have dogged them since 2008 are finally coming to an end, meaning they can now devote all their energies to fighting back against their US rivals, which have gained a bigger slice of the European investment banking pie in each of the past five years. Failure to do so will trigger far-reaching questions about whether the decline can be arrested. By David Rothnie.

Norwegian covered bonds could be in line for a ratings bump following implementation of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) said Standard and Poor’s. Separately, tighter Norwegian mortgage lending criteria should dampen house price inflation but it still remains unsustainably high, said Fitch.

Two KKR backed firms have brought the first European leveraged loan market repricings of the year, picking up on a trend that is already in full swing in the US this year.

Bank of Cyprus raised £250m in its first new-style tier two transaction on Thursday, showing the market was ready to receive further capital trades before blackouts set in.

BayernLB was set to issue its first sterling public sector Pfandbrief on Thursday with the latest order book update suggesting it had made good headway by paying a super attractive spread.