Europe

Axpo, the Swiss energy utility company, on Thursday issued a offered a CHF350m ($358m) eight year bond to support its buy back of outstanding CHF700m ($716m) 2020 notes.

UK advertisement operator Exterion Media had begun offering term loans earlier in June, but the deal is now off the table as the UK's vote to leave the EU claims a victim in the leveraged finance markets.

Commerzbank issued the first euro covered bond since June 15 on Monday, and though it was a clear success, no other issuer ventured to follow.

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten placed its inaugural social bond on Wednesday sharing the socially responsible investment (SRI) sector with a tap from the International Finance Corporation. The Dutch agency now wants more of the same.

Frontier Resources has announced its intention to buy Concepta Diagnostics, a healthcare company specialising in infertility treatments, through a reverse takeover on London’s Aim market, worth £3m.

Three Indian state-owned oil companies have hit the loan market for fresh money to support their joint acquisition of oil fields in Russia. Several banks are keen to submit bids but the adverse impact from US sanctions on Russia could pose a challenge, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

Nykredit Realkredit was marketing its second “senior resolution note” on Thursday, breaking a month’s hiatus in FIG supply.

Bulgarian Energy Holding is planning a Eurobond and the note has been assigned an expected rating of BB- by Fitch.

Covered bonds saw a relative improvement in flows on Thursday, but with a limited supply outlook and continued central bank buying, a technical squeeze had begun to take hold. CIF Euromortgage performed well after regaining preferential regulatory treatment.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) has become a symbol of Italy’s banking woes, but a private sector salve will not end the lender’s non-performing loan (NPL) problem. A poor performance in the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) 2016 stress tests will only hammer home the size of the mountain left to climb, writes Tyler Davies.

It was a rough day for stocks on Wednesday, but a great day for equity capital markets, with two convertible bonds launched and priced — the first since the UK’s vote to quit the European Union was revealed on June 24. They came on top of a roaring reception for Melrose Industries’ announcement of a £1.7bn rights issue for an acquisition in the US.

Pfandbriefzentrale der Schweizerischen Kantonalbanken issued on Tuesday the first ever Swiss franc 10 year bond to be priced with a negative yield by a non-government issuer.