Europe

This week's scorecard looks at the progress French agencies have made halfway through the year.

Shares in BW Offshore, the Norwegian floating oil storage vessel owner and operator, have fallen 69% after its shares began trading ex-rights on Wednesday, ahead of its $100m rights issue.

Rating: —/AA

The IPO of Enav, the Italian air traffic control system, is progressing steadily, despite the shock of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, which has sent share prices whizzing in all directions.

The SSA market got back to business swiftly, if somewhat cautiously, this week, with taps and private placements (PPs) across core currencies coming quickly after the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. Although none of the trades were especially ambitious, their success has set a positive tone for the weeks to come.

Iberdrola, the Spanish energy company, completed a €500m multicurrency, new money loan deal on June 30, one week after the UK's EU referendum.

Those of us who stayed up to watch the Brexit television coverage knew that in a few hours’ time the June 24 trading session would go down in history. The mainstream media were inevitably obsessing about the post-Brexit collapse in sterling, but the credit markets were focused on the Markit iTraxx indices. Big moves were expected by market participants, and they weren’t disappointed.

A stronger picture is emerging for the eurozone periphery late in the week, after the region’s governments suffered a spike in yields in the immediate aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

The UK Debt Management Office has stressed that a plunge in Gilt yields following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union will not affect its strategy, as comments by the Bank of England governor sent rates tumbling further on Thursday.

British American Tobacco and Brown Forman gave the sterling corporate bond market a much needed boost on Thursday as both brought benchmark transactions to enthusiastic investors.

Investors have been forced to think twice about buying euro-denominated UK bank paper following the country’s vote to leave the European Union, though the borrowers remain strong and spreads on their debt securities are at attractive levels.

Rentenbank sold a public trade in dollars on Thursday, the first such deal since the UK voted on June 23 to leave the European Union.