Europe

US pharma giant Merck reached for a long tenor on Wednesday, in the process reopening the market for ultra-long trades as it issued a 20 year tranche.

A fourth issuer of the week has broken its record for longest dated syndication ever, while the European Financial Stability Facility wrapped up its 2016 needs with a trade that looked almost short end by comparison to the rest of the week’s euro supply.

Shares in ConvaTec, the UK medical supplies manufacturer, traded below issue price throughout Wednesday and closed flat, a day after the firm completed the largest IPO on the London Stock Exchange since Worldpay floated for £2.4bn in October 2015.

The Moser family intends to become the sole owner of UK mortgage loan provider Together as private equity firm Equistone and Standard Life plan PIK issuance before exiting the company.

Bayer may conduct the refinancing of its $56.9bn credit facility ahead of the closing of its acquisition of Monsanto, which is expected by the end of 2017, the firm said on Wednesday.

Permira has added to its recent shopping basket of acquisitions with the purchase of German online retailer Schustermann & Borenstein from Ardian.

DNA Ltd, Finland’s third largest mobile phone operator, has decided after a strategic review to embark on a second attempt at an IPO, more than three years after shareholders voted against going public.

Deutsche Hypo made a rare appearance in the fixed rate senior market on Wednesday, as it joined a host of FIG issuers eager to fund ahead of a potentially tricky end to the year.

Russia’s largest privately owned oil-company Lukoil opened books on its first bond in three years on Wednesday, a 10 year dollar benchmark offering around 100bp over the sovereign.

After weeks of caution and defensive trades, with tentative order books to match, the euro corporate bond market has swung back to notch a jumbo trade among its deal count. Meanwhile the loan market continues to search for a sane medium between leveraged loans' buying hysteria and investment grade’s catatonic summer.

Slovenia was able to tighten pricing for a new 24 year euro benchmark on Wednesday morning after attracting more than €2.3bn of orders.

The public sector market is making the most of what may be the year’s last attractive opportunity for benchmark issuance ahead of a risk laden November.