Europe

Volvo Cars, the Swedish car company owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding of China, has raised Skr5bn ($530m) in a private placement of preference shares, which might be converted to listed shares if Volvo completes an IPO.

Europe’s bank recovery and resolution directive (BRRD) could face an important first test this month if Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena fails to complete its rescue plan. But market participants should not completely write off the new framework, even if the bail-in process does not pan out how they had hoped.

A majority of credit investors believe the European Central Bank will begin to wind down its Corporate Sector Purchase Programme from April next year, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey published on Tuesday.

KfW placed its final deal of the year on Tuesday, tapping a short dated sterling line and making this the busiest December for offshore SSA sterling issuance in over a decade.

The Swiss market shed roughly Sfr3bn ($2.93bn) of foreign issuance this year from last year. Expensive basis swaps and cheap funding for investment grade borrowers in euros and dollars drew foreign issuers away. But, if global rates rise next year, the foreign borrowers will return, Swiss bankers say.

The European Banking Authority has published final recommendations that set out the details of its three step approach to harmonising covered bonds across Europe.

The number of European direct lending deals increased 6% in the first three quarters of 2016, thanks largely to activity in mainland Europe, according to recent Deloitte research. Deals have also got bigger.

Första AP Fonden, the Skr300bn government buffer fund of Sweden’s national pension system, is planning to diversity its high yield allocation in favour of the European and global high yield markets.

The Z5.14bn (€1.16bn) of loans for the leveraged buy-out of Allegro, the Polish online marketplace, have been allocated, with the leads choosing zloty rather than senior or junior euro bonds for the second lien piece.

Lloyds’ purchase of Bank of America’s credit card business MBNA will hit its common equity tier one ratio, but analysts believe the 80bp decline in will be "easily manageable".

Gazprom plans to borrow $4.7bn in external debt next year, it said in its 2017 budget.

Russia’s Alfa-Bank re-opened its $400m Basel III additional tier one trade on Tuesday morning, marketing the perpetual note at 8%.