Europe

Echosens, the French subsidiary of Shenzhen-listed Inner Mongolia Furui Medical Science Co, is preparing a float on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

An improvement in market conditions since Nationale-Nederlanden Bank (NN Bank) was last in the RMBS market didn’t help initial spreads on its privately placed €500m deal come any tighter. As the regulatory treatment of ABS has failed to make progress, the issuer could be tempted to follow its Dutch peers and set up a conditional pass through (CPT) covered bond programme.

Forterra, the UK maker of bricks and concrete blocks owned by Lone Star, began the bookbuild for its London IPO on Tuesday, hoping to raise up to £220m.

A year can go by without an IPO in Prague, but this week has brought two. The day after GE Money Bank set out to float, Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH), the Czech coal, gas and power company, began investor education for its plan to list EP Infrastructure, its energy transmission and distribution business.

The bookbuild began on Tuesday for the Paris IPO of Mediawan, a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) set up by three big hitters of French business to buy media and entertainment businesses.

Linde, the German industrial gases group, returned to the corporate bond market on Tuesday after an absence of almost two years, and not surprisingly, found strong demand.

A hungry euro market gorged on deals from France and the European Union on Tuesday, instilling confidence that a trio of trades on Wednesday’s menu will go well — despite two of them being in the same tenor.

Finland is lining up a three year dollar benchmark for Wednesday, following a stream of issuance on Tuesday that highlighted the strength of the dollar market.

The Norwegian lender has mandated leads for the seventh Norwegian euro benchmark to be issued this year and the fourth with a seven year maturity.

Russian container terminal operator Global Ports Investments printed the first Russian debut bond since the Crimea crisis on Monday in a deal that was 3.5 times subscribed.

Renaissance Capital proved Russian debt is still in demand on Monday when it switched holders of its 2016 bond into a new 2021 bond, which also attracted new investors.

Highfields Capital Management, the US asset manager and largest shareholder in Delta Lloyd that fought hard to block the Dutch insurance company’s rights issue, nevertheless subscribed to its rights in the offering.