Europe

A pair of SSA borrowers returned to the Norwegian krone market this week for the first time this year, taking advantage of better funding conditions in the market.

Amadeus, the Spanish airline ticketing systems group, has signed a €500m revolving credit facility with a group of 12 banks, bringing in two new lenders as two dropped out.

Moody’s has downgraded Care UK, which claims to be the country's largest independent provider of health and social care, to a corporate family rating of Caa1.

UBI Banca became the first Italian lender to print tier two capital this year on Wednesday, laying the foundations for more periphery capital to follow.

Signs of progress under new chief executive Jes Staley saw Barclays shares up almost 4% early on Wednesday, but with profits down 25% and return on equity languishing at 3.8% in the first quarter, they were soon trading down.

Sberbank has chosen Netherlands–headquartered Wolters Kluwer’s OneSumX for risk management platform to streamline its global treasury operations.

Moskovskaya Birzha (Moscow Exchange, or MOEX) has vowed to improve risk management and will expand the range of foreign exchange services it provides.

A trio of taps and a UK Gilt syndication this week have demonstrated that fears of the country’s June 23 referendum on EU membership disrupting the market may be misplaced. Indeed, investors have expressed greater worries about risks elsewhere in Europe.

Periphery bank capital is back on the menu for investors this week, leaving FIG bankers feeling they can bring virtually any product to market for the first time since early January. And thanks to Vakifbank, that now includes Turkish covered bonds.

Severstal, the steelmaker, reopened the Russian convertible bond market on Tuesday, with what bankers on the deal said was the first issue since 2013.

Just two working days after Numis’s dashing block trade in Saga stock on Thursday last week, Credit Suisse brought another sparky, sole-managed deal to the market on Monday night, with a £1bn sale of SABMiller shares for Jan Kulczyk, the Polish billionaire.

The European Stability Mechanism rode the crest of a wave of demand for duration on Tuesday to complete its remaining funding needs for the second quarter, as Unédic looked to hit a shorter maturity.