Europe

Three public sector borrowers tapped the sterling market this week in a late spurt of issuance driven by the basis swap and a move in outright yields and, with 2017 brimming with political risks, borrowers might be advised to look for opportunities in the currency next year.

Poland broke new ground this week, issuing the first ever sovereign green bond. The deal offers a template to future sovereign borrowers, even though some dedicated SRI accounts would like to see future issuers more clearly identifying projects to finance, writes Virginia Furness.

Rating: A

Emerging markets bonds sold off after the US Federal Reserve indicated a more hawkish tone on Wednesday — but much like what happened after the Brexit result, spreads came off their wides quite quickly.

The European Commission will focus on post trade and clearing in its review of the proposed merger between London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse, having narrowed its list of concerns from September. But the race is on for the exchanges to address these concerns, with less than three months until a pivotal deadline.

The story of the leveraged finance market in 2016 was in many ways the story of the LBO — or perhaps more aptly, the non-story.

Making senior debt explicitly bail-inable fundamentally changes the risk profile of the asset class. Investors must not take that shift lightly.

It’s that time of year when analysts dust off their crystal balls and make predictions for the next 12 months. In December 2015 not many were forecasting that Britain would vote to leave the EU, and even fewer were betting on a Donald Trump presidential victory, so investors would be wise to treat such missives with caution. Political risk is a capricious beast, even for the most seasoned market observers.

Less than two weeks after agreeing to a programme of debt relief for Greece, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has suspended the measures, blaming proposed pension largesse.

Corporate credit withstood the jitters in government bond markets that followed the US Federal Reserve’s decision to hike interest rates on Wednesday, passing the test on its last risk event of the year.

Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are joint lead arrangers and bookrunners for a bridge loan of up to £12.2bn ($15.18bn) which 21st Century Fox will use to buy the remaining shares in Sky it does not own.

Swiss pharmaceutical and biotech ingredients supplier Lonza has secured $5.5bn in funds from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS for the acquisition of US dosage form maker Capsugel, in a financing package that includes a variety of debt and equity products.