Europe

The long saga of Rosneft’s privatisation ended on Wednesday evening with a surprise announcement by the Russian government of the sale of a 19.5% stake in the oil giant to Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority.

The UK Debt Management Office has picked a conventional Gilt with a tenor in the 40 year area for a syndication it added to its 2016-17 funding programme after November’s autumn statement.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena has asked the European Central Bank to extend its rescue plan deadline into next year, in a move that could complicate the commitments the Italian lender received in its debt-for-equity swap.

The Luxembourg financial regulator has decided to allow Ucits funds registered in the country to enter the China interbank bond market direct access (CIBM Direct) scheme. The move is set to give yet another boost to China bond investments.

Banca Monte dei Paschi’s shares climbed 11% on Wednesday, on growing hopes that a way will be found for the Italian state to strengthen its balance sheet, enabling it to achieve a €5bn capital raising demanded by the European Central Bank and avoid a bail-in.

Any transitional arrangement for Brexit, after the end of the two year Article 50 negotiating period, would only give the two sides time for implementation, not for further talks, according to an MEP involved in the EU's negotiating team.

Having brushed off Sunday’s ‘No’ vote in the Italian referendum, corporate bond players are firmly focused on Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting, and feeling uncertain about its outcome.

Deutsche Bank’s Spanish subsidiary kept its commitment to issue around €2bn Cédulas per annum and on Wednesday issued a well-oversubscribed €1bn five year, even though the cost was much higher than the European Central Bank’s Term Long Term Refinancing Operation.

Ensco, the London-headquartered offshore oil drilling contractor, has raised $750m with a popular convertible bond issue to finance a tender offer for high yield bonds due 2019 and 2020.

JP Morgan was hit hardest as the European Commission on Wednesday fined three banks a total of €485m for manipulating markets in a euro interest rate derivatives cartel.

The leveraged finance market should not view direct lending as competition but instead as a complementary funding source, said a direct lending official speaking at the Euromoney Nordic high yield conference in Stockholm this week.

BNP Paribas has taken advantage of strong market conditions to open books for a dollar additional tier one.