Europe

Polling for GlobalCapital's Covered Bond Awards 2021 closes at 5:30pm London time on Monday, August 16, so please be sure to cast your firm’s vote if you haven’t already done so. Preliminary data shows that the frontrunners for many awards are in close contention, so every vote stands to make a huge difference.

The ECB, as of this week, holds over a third of Greece’s government debt with its purchases showing no signs of slowing. But the end of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme, scheduled for March next year, may mean a sudden halt.

Berenberg has hired a fourth senior equity syndicate banker to cover France and southern Europe, amid big plans to expand its investment banking business, with new offices and teams in Brussels and Stockholm.

UBS was hot on the heels of Credit Suisse with a new issuance in the dollar market this week, as banks spy an opportunity to get funding done in early August.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos is expecting to issue a new senior deal for the minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) in the second half of the year, having been lifted to investment grade by Moody’s last month.

The Bankers Investment Trust, a London-listed investment trust which traces its origins back to 1888, has sold a £74.5m-equivalent private placement. While there are slim pickings for PP investors looking to lend to financial institutions in Europe, investment trusts have provided a steady stream of opportunities.

The UK’s Municipal Bonds Agency is not going anywhere. Despite a late 2020 curve ball in the form of a 100bp cut to the UK’s Public Works Loan Board lending rate, which undermined the MBA's ability to raise competitive bond market funding on behalf of local councils, the agency has a pipeline of deals coming together, some of which will carry ESG labels for the first time.

Sports teams could be among the Covid-battered industries looking to tap the capital markets later this year and next, bankers believe, as Italy’s elite Juventus Football Club prepares for a €400m rights issue to repair its finances.

The Schuldschein market is counting on a late summer pick-up in issuance to make up for a barren first half of the year. If deals do not pick up, the market could reach only €14bn of issuance in 2021, half its volume in 2017.

Lazard has hired a former Citigroup banker to run its equity capital markets advisory practice for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Credit Suisse is adding to its fintech coverage with the appointment of Orazio Tarda as global head of the sector in London. Tarda was previously global head of fintech at HSBC.

Private placements are expected to make up the bulk of Swedish covered bond paper throughout the latter half of 2021 and, with the Nordic summer holiday period coming to end, issuance from the region is expected to kick off ahead of the eurozone.