Europe

ICAP, the interdealer broker, has launched a daily index that measures the effective cost of funding for sterling government bonds.

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), a financial services provider for non-profits, has closed the offer period for its retail charity bond a week earlier than expected.

Norske Skog, the Norwegian producer of publishing paper, has told GlobalCapital that its plan to ensure its long term funding is going ahead, although Moody’s has warned of a default looming.

Index provider FTSE Russell announced on Wednesday a new index which combines for the first time the China A-shares and Hong Kong-listed H-shares of the 50 largest Chinese companies.

Russian software firm, Kaspersky Lab, is refinancing a credit facility with international banks and reducing the margin despite many Russian borrowers paying more for their loans.

As Belarus received a $500m credit line from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilisation and Development (EFSD) this week, loans bankers said they are not leaping forward to arrange a loan for the sovereign. But Russian banks were still active in the country.

Poland has released price guidance for its first international dollar bond since its tumultuous January euro print.

UBS has joined a growing list of European banks ramping up their senior holding company level issuance in 2016, printing a large three tranche deal in dollars as demand for the product surges.

Danske Bank’s €1bn five year senior transaction was more than four times subscribed on Wednesday, as the Danish borrower took advantage of a strong market open to launch the day’s only FIG deal in the European primary market.

The only spot of new bond activity in the CEEMEA market so far in this week was Poland’s first dollar deal of the year, but there was plenty of loans market activity in the region to keep bankers occupied.

Consolidation has been a perennial theme in Italian finance, but the country has little to show for it. This time is different.

Lehto Group, the Finnish construction and real estate firm, said on Tuesday that it intended to float in Helsinki, in a deal that would consist primarily of new shares.