Europe

Serendex Pharmaceuticals, the Danish healthcare company, has completed its Nkr111.8m ($12.5m) rights issue, having achieved full subscription.

ISDA’s Determinations Committee has decided to hold a second day of discussions on Novo Banco, after failing to reach agreement on Wednesday over whether the Portuguese bank has triggered a government intervention credit event or a succession event.

2015 will be remembered as a year when volatility returned to financial markets. With strong technical buffers to the trading range of US and European equity markets going into 2016, short volatility strategies look set to be compelling money earners in the year ahead, writes Andrew Barber.

The sterling market enjoyed a second record breaking day in a row on Wednesday as FMS Wertmanagement printed its largest ever deal in the currency — and sterling investors were impatient for an upcoming World Bank deal.

The European Stability Mechanism is seeking ideas for a bond issue next week, as the euro market burst back into life following a holiday across much of Europe on Wednesday.

A member of Mizuho International’s bond syndicate team has left the firm.

Westpac NZ launched a sterling senior bond on Wednesday and Santander UK will soon follow with a debut holdco deal, as FIG's first signs of life in 2016 favour the UK market.

The Russian Ministry of Finance is living in a fantasy land if it thinks the IMF will have to reconsider its support of Ukraine under the Extended Fund Facility Agreement, according to analysts.

Barclays has printed one of the largest dollar senior trades from a European bank in recent memory, as it and Santander UK took home $5bn of holding company debt between them on Tuesday.

Private bank Otkritie has nearly completed a $185m one year loan, one of only a few international loans completed by Russian banks since the introduction of financial sanctions on the country by the US and European Union in late 2014.

Metinvest’s restructuring saga looks set to continue well into 2016 after the Ukrainian lender asked investors for a waiver of default up to May 27, 2016.

UK banks have wasted no time in plundering a deep dollar market for holding company senior debt this week, while euro investors have been restricted to a variety show of covered bonds.